implicate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin implicātus,^[2][3][4][5] the past participle of implicō (“to entangle, involve, connect closely”),^[6][4] formed from im- (“in”) and plicō (“to fold”),^[6][2][7] from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[2][7] The same Latin verb gave imply, which Barnhart calls a doublet of this word,^[4] and employ.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To convey a truth in a fable: the early 15th century, according to Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary.^[2][7] Barnhart has an adjective implicate, involved as a complicating factor, probably before 1425.^[4] The OED first records the verb in 1602, and the adjective, "intertwined", about 1540.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Oxford takes the original English sense to be "entwine",^[3] which the OED records from 1610 and Etymonline from about 1600, and which was still used by Shelley of intertwined boughs and leaves.^[6][2][5] It is now archaic or rare.^[5][8][9] The sense "to involve as a consequence or inference, to imply" appears at the start of the 17th century,^[6][4][3] and Johnson (1755) gave only "to entangle; to embarrass; to involve; to infold".^[10] Weekley notes that the word often means the same as imply.^[11] The modern sense, showing someone to be concerned in a charge or crime, is first recorded in Ann Radcliffe's The Italian (1797),^[6][4][2] and the sense of being involved in how something works follows in 1798.^[6][9] A technical use in linguistics and philosophy, to imply a meaning by implicature, is first recorded in H. P. Grice in 1967.^[6] The noun meant "entanglement" in 1656, and has meant "something implied" since 1881.^[6]

Timeline

• early 15th century – to convey a truth in a fable.^[2][7]
• c. 1540 – adjective, intertwined, entangled.^[6]
• 1555 – adjective, intricate (obsolete by 1637).^[6]
• 1602 – to involve as a consequence or inference; to imply.^[6] Barnhart dates this to 1600.^[4]
• 1610 – to intertwine.^[6]
• 1625 – figurative, to entangle mentally (obsolete).^[6]
• 1797 – to involve a person in a charge or crime.^[6][4][2]
• 1798 – to involve or affect in the working of something.^[6]
• 1881 – noun, that which is implied.^[6]
• 1967 – in linguistics, to imply by implicature.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To show that someone is involved, especially in a crime: The forged letters implicated two of his clerks.^[8][5][6]
2. To cause to be involved in the working of something; used especially in the passive: A faulty gene has been implicated in the disorder.^[6][9][8]
3. To involve as a necessary inference; to imply.^[8][5][6]
4. (linguistics and philosophy) To imply a meaning by implicature.^[6]
5. (archaic) To twist together; to entwine.^[5][9][8]

Noun

1. Something implied or involved.^[5][6][9]

Adjective

1. (rare) Intertwined; entangled.^[6][9][5]

Word family

• unimplicated
• implicatory

Related words

• implication
• implicative
• implicature
• implicit
• imply
• employ
• ply
• plait

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray