different between intimation vs notion

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

Etymology

From Latin n?ti? (“a becoming acquainted, a taking cognizance, an examination, an investigation, a conception, idea, notion”), from n?scere (“to know”). Compare French notion. See know.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n????n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?no???n/
• Rhymes: -????n

Noun

notion (plural notions)

1. Mental apprehension of whatever may be known, thought, or imagined; idea, concept.

   • What hath been generally agreed on, I content myself to assume under the notion of principles.

   • 1705-1715', George Cheyne, The Philosophical Principles of Religion Natural and Revealed

     there are few that agree in their Notions about them:.

   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     That notion of hunger, cold, sound, color, thought, wish, or fear which is in the mind, is called the "idea" of hunger, cold, etc.

   • Notion, again, signifies either the act of apprehending, signalizing, that is, the remarking or taking note of, the various notes, marks, or characters of an object which its qualities afford, or the result of that act.

2. A sentiment; an opinion.
   • December 2, 1832, John Henry Newman, Wilfulness, the Sin of Saul

     A perverse will easily collects together a system of notions to justify itself in its obliquity.
3. (obsolete) Sense; mind.
4. (colloquial) An invention; an ingenious device; a knickknack.

5. Any small article used in sewing and haberdashery, either for attachment to garments or as a tool, such as a button, zipper, or thimble.
6. (colloquial) Inclination; intention; disposition.

Translations

See also

• concept
• conception
• meaning

Further reading

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

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin n?ti?, n?ti?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?.sj??/

Noun

notion f (plural notions)

1. notion

Further reading

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