different between supergrass vs implicate

English

Etymology

super- +? grass, from grass, British/Irish slang word for an informer.

Noun

supergrass (plural supergrasses)

1. An informer providing substantial quantities of information on criminal or terrorist activities to the police.
   • 2000, D. Walsh, Bloody Sunday and the Rule of Law in Northern Ireland (page 241)

     In several cases the supergrass spent days in the witness box giving evidence of scores of offences allegedly committed by many individuals over a period of years.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin implicatus < implico (“entangle, involve”), from plico (“fold”). Doublet of imply and employ.

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /??mpl?ke?t/
• (noun) IPA^(key): /??mpl?k?t/

Verb

implicate (third-person singular simple present implicates, present participle implicating, simple past and past participle implicated)

1. (transitive, with “in”) To show to be connected or involved in an unfavorable or criminal way.

2. To imply, to have as a necessary consequence or accompaniment.

3. (pragmatics) To imply without entailing; to have as an implicature.
4. (archaic) To fold or twist together, intertwine, interlace, entangle, entwine.

Related terms

• implication
• implicative
• implicature
• implicit
• implicitness
• imply

Translations

Noun

implicate (plural implicates)

1. (philosophy) The thing implied.

See also

• (connect with a crime): grass, inform, squeal

Italian

Verb

implicate

1. second-person plural present of implicare
2. second-person plural imperative of implicare
3. feminine plural past participle of implicare

Latin

Participle

implic?te

1. vocative masculine singular of implic?tus