Etymologically
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implicit

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪmˈplɪsɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French implicite and directly borrowed from Latin implicitus,[2][3][4][5][6] a later variant of implicātus (“entangled, confused, involved”),[2][4][7] the past participle of implicō (“to entangle, involve, enfold”),[2][7][8] formed from in- (“in, into”) and plicō (“to fold”),[2] which is traced to Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).[2] Barnhart thinks the French step only probable,[3] and Merriam-Webster and Collins give the Latin word alone.[8][9] The Latin verb is also the source of implicate and imply, and its counterpart explicō (“to unfold”) gives explicit.[7][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Implied though not plainly expressed: 1599 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster.[3][8] The OED of 1989 also dated this sense to 1599;[10] the current OED's first quotation, from 1608, has the literal sense "entangled, twisted together".[4]

Semantic evolution

The word carried both the literal Latin sense, "entangled, entwined, folded together", used in English from 1608 to the mid-18th century,[4][5] and the figurative sense "involved in something else, implied".[4][11] Johnson (1755) still put "entangled; infolded" first, quoting Pope and Thomson, and "inferred, tacitly comprised" second.[12] The sense "unquestioning" comes from the theological phrase implicit faith, after Ecclesiastical Latin fides implicita, faith that rests on the authority of the Church rather than on the believer's own understanding (1610, in Donne);[4] from this came "absolute, unreserved", as in implicit obedience and implicit trust.[4][11][2] The sense "virtually or potentially contained in" dates from 1658,[4] and the mathematical implicit function, one defined by an equation that is not solved for the dependent variable, is a later technical use.[4][9] From 1727 implicit was sometimes used by mistake for explicit.[4]

Timeline

  • 1599 – implied though not plainly expressed.[3][8][10]
  • 1608 – entangled, twisted together (obsolete by 1760).[4]
  • 1610 – implicit faith, faith resting on authority.[4]
  • 1625 – absolute, unqualified, as in implicit ignorance (obsolete).[4]
  • 1641 – noun, that which is implicit.[4]
  • 1658 – virtually or potentially contained in something.[4]
  • 1694 – of persons, marked by implicit faith or obedience.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Understood or implied without being stated directly: There was an implicit threat in her tone.[8][9][13]
  2. Contained in the nature of something though not openly shown; inherent or potential: The whole tree is implicit in the seed.[8][9][13]
  3. Without doubt or reservation; absolute, unquestioning: implicit trust.[9][13][8]
  4. (mathematics) Of a function: defined by an equation not solved for the dependent variable.[9][4]
  5. (obsolete, 1608–1760) Entangled, twisted together.[4][9][12]

Word family

  • implicitly
  • implicitness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin