different between insinuate vs refer

English

Etymology

From Latin ?nsinu? (“to push in, creep in, steal in”), from in (“in”) + sinus (“a winding, bend, bay, fold, bosom”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?n?s?njue?t/

Verb

insinuate (third-person singular simple present insinuates, present participle insinuating, simple past and past participle insinuated)

1. To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement.

   She insinuated that her friends had betrayed her.

2. (rare) To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.
   • 1728-1729, John Woodward, An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England

     Water will insinuate itself into Flints through certain imperceptible Cracks

3. (figuratively, by extension) To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means.
   • 1995, Terry Pratchett, Maskerade, p. 242

     Nanny didn't so much enter places as insinuate herself; she had unconsciously taken a natural talent for liking people and developed it into an occult science.

   • All the art of rhetoric, besides order and clearness, are for nothing else but to insinuate wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead the judgment.

   • Horace laughs to shame all follies and insinuates virtue, rather by familiar examples than by the severity of precepts.

   • He […] insinuated himself into the very good grace of the Duke of Buckingham.

   • he insinuated himself into the confidence of one already so forlorn

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:allude

Related terms

• insinuation
• insinuator
• sinuous

Translations

Further reading

• insinuate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• insinuate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• annuities

Italian

Verb

insinuate

1. second-person plural present indicative of insinuare
2. second-person plural imperative of insinuare
3. feminine plural of insinuato

Latin

Verb

?nsinu?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ?nsinu?

English

Etymology

From Middle English referren, from Old French referer, from Latin referre.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: r?-fû, IPA^(key): /???f??/
• (US) enPR: r?-fûr, IPA^(key): /???f?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Hyphenation: re?fer

Verb

refer (third-person singular simple present refers, present participle referring, simple past and past participle referred)

1. (transitive) To direct the attention of.

2. (transitive) To submit to (another person or group) for consideration; to send or direct elsewhere.

3. (transitive) To place in or under by a mental or rational process; to assign to, as a class, a cause, source, a motive, reason, or ground of explanation.

4. (intransitive, construed with to) To allude to, make a reference or allusion to.

5. (Can we add an example for this sense?) (grammar) To be referential to another element in a sentence.
6. (Can we add an example for this sense?) (computing) To address a specific location in computer memory.
7. (education) Required to resit an examination.

Synonyms

• delegate
• direct

Derived terms

• refer to
• refer someone to

Related terms

• reference
• referral
• relate
• relative
• relation
• relationship

Translations

Further reading

• refer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Ferre, Freer, Frere, freer

Catalan

Etymology

re- +? fer (“to do”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /r??fe/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /re?fe?/

Verb

refer (first-person singular present refaig, past participle refet)

1. to redo

Conjugation

Further reading

• “refer” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “refer” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “refer” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “refer” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Verb

refer

1. second-person singular present active imperative of refer?