Etymologically
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implication

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌɪmplɪˈkeɪʃən/, /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English implicacioun,[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin implicātiō (“an interweaving, entanglement”),[5][6][7][8][9] a noun of action from implicātus, the past participle of implicō (“to involve, entangle; to connect closely”),[6][7][4] which is formed from in- (“in, into”) and plicō (“to fold”), reconstructed by Etymonline as from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).[6] The MED gives Old French as a second source,[2] while the OED compares French implication, recorded only from the 16th century in the senses "complicity" and "contradiction".[5] The same Latin verb is the source of implicate and, through Old French, of imply.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Complication, complexity: perhaps before 1425, in a Middle English translation of Chauliac, which says that the inplicacionz of conditions make a cure hard.[2] The OED's first record, about 1430 in the Pilgrimage of Lyf of Manhode, is for the action of entwining or entangling, or the state of being entangled.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense "that which is implied but not stated" came in the mid 16th century:[6][9] the OED's first quotation is of 1581, and the phrase by implication is recorded from before 1575.[5] Johnson (1755) gave both meanings, "involution; entanglement", with a quotation from Boyle on the parts of a body, and "inference not expressed, but tacitly inculcated".[10] The literal sense "entwining" is now rare.[9] In 1873 the word was used for being involved in some condition,[5] and Merriam-Webster records the sense of an incriminating involvement.[11] In logic, a relation between propositions in which one implies the other is recorded from 1906, in a paper by B. Russell.[5][9]

Timeline

  • ?a1425 – complication, complexity, in a translation of Chauliac.[2]
  • c. 1430 – entwining, entanglement.[5]
  • a1575 – by implication.[5]
  • 1581 – the action of implying; something implied.[5][6]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as entanglement and as unexpressed inference.[10]
  • 1873 – involvement in some condition.[5]
  • 1906 – logic, a relation between propositions, in Russell.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Something implied but not said outright; a suggestion or implied meaning: The implication of her silence was that she disagreed.[3][12][13]
  2. The act of implying, or the state of being implied, as in the phrase by implication, through what is implied rather than stated.[13][5][9]
  3. The act of implicating someone, or the state of being implicated, especially an incriminating involvement.[12][13][11]
  4. (logic) A relation between two propositions such that one follows from the other, or the operator that joins two sentences as "if … then …".[12][5][11]
  5. (rare) The action of entwining or entangling; the state of being entwined.[9][5]

Word family

  • implicative
  • implicatively
  • implicativeness
  • implicational
  • nonimplication
  • material implication

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin