different between intimation vs innuendo

English

Etymology

From Middle French intimation, from Latin intimatio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nt??me???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

intimation (plural intimations)

1. The act of intimating.
2. The thing intimated.
3. Announcement; declaration.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

     They made an edict with an intimation that whosoever killed a stork, should be banished.

4. A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference.
   • 1862, Henry David Thoreau, Walking:

     At length, perchance, the immaterial heaven will appear as much higher to the American mind, and the intimations that star it as much brighter.

   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 378:

     And actually I had important intimations to communicate as he faced the end. But intimations weren't much use.

Translations

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimate

References

• “intimation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) inuendo

Etymology

From the Latin innuend? (“by nodding”), ablative singular form of innuendum (“a nodding”), gerund of innu? (“I give a nod”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nju??nd??/
• Rhymes: -?nd??

Noun

innuendo (plural innuendoes or innuendos or innuendis)

1. A derogatory hint or reference to a person or thing. An implication, intimation or insinuation.

   She made a devious innuendo about her husband, who was embarrassed.

2. (logic) A rhetorical device with an omitted, but obvious conclusion, made to increase the force of an argument.
3. (law) Part of a pleading in cases of libel and slander, pointing out what and who was meant by the libellous matter or description.

Derived terms

• innuendous

Translations

Verb

innuendo (third-person singular simple present innuendos, present participle innuendoing, simple past and past participle innuendoed)

1. (transitive, law) To interpret (something libellous or slanderous) in terms of what was implied.
   • 1894, Frank Towers Cooper, A Handbook of the Law of Defamation and Verbal Injury (page 119)

     A statement that a person's presence at a certain club may be "irksome," may be innuendoed that the person is of such bad character as not to be a fit associate with honourable men.

Further reading

• Innuendo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Innuendo in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• dunnione

Latin

Verb

innuend?

1. dative gerund of innu?