infer

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb reason by deduction; establish by deduction
  2. verb draw from specific cases for more general cases
  3. verb conclude by reasoning; in logic

Etymology

From Latin inferō, from Latin in- (“in, at, on; into”) + Latin ferō (“bear, carry; suffer”) (cognate to Old English beran, whence English bear), from Proto-Italic *ferō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (“to bear, carry”), from the root *bʰer-. Literally “carry forward”, equivalent to “bear in”, as in concluding from a premise. Doublet of inbear.

In classic literature

Synonyms

deduce, deduct, derive

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