different between think vs infer

English

Alternative forms

• thinck, thinke (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: th?ngk, IPA^(key): /???k/
• (Appalachian) IPA^(key): [?æ?k]
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from Old English þen?an, þen?ean (“to think”), from Proto-Germanic *þankijan? (“to think, suppose, perceive”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel, know”). Cognate with Scots think, thynk (“to think”), North Frisian teenk, taanke, tanke, tånke (“to think”), Saterland Frisian toanke (“to think”), West Frisian tinke (“to think”), Dutch denken (“to think”), Afrikaans dink (“to think”), Low German denken (“to think”), dinken, German denken (“to think”), Danish tænke (“to think”), Swedish tänka (“to think”), Norwegian Bokmål tenke (“to think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tenkja (“to think”), Icelandic þekkja (“to know, recognise, identify, perceive”), Latin tonge? (“know”).

Verb

think (third-person singular simple present thinks, present participle thinking, simple past and past participle thought)

1. (transitive) To ponder, to go over in one's head.

   • So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

2. (intransitive) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
3. (intransitive) To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of; infrequently, by on).
4. (transitive) To be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
   • 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 182.

     […] one man showed me a young oak which he had transplanted from behind the town, thinking it an apple-tree.
5. (transitive) To guess; to reckon.

6. To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).

   • The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he […]
7. To presume; to venture.

   • Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (ponder): See Thesaurus:ponder
• (communicate to oneself in one's mind): See Thesaurus:think
• (be of the opinion (that)): See Thesaurus:have opinion
• (guess, reckon): guess See Thesaurus:suppose
• (consider, judge, regard something as): See Thesaurus:deem

Derived terms

Related terms

• forthink
• thought
• thunk
• thank

Translations

Noun

think (usually uncountable, plural thinks)

1. (chiefly Britain) An act of thinking; consideration (of something).

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken (also thinchen, thünchen), from Old English þyncan (“to seem, appear”), from Proto-Germanic *þunkijan? (“to seem”). Cognate with Dutch dunken (“to seem, appear”), German dünken (“to seem, appear”), Danish tykkes (“to seem”), Swedish tycka (“to seem, think, regard”), Icelandic þykja (“to be regarded, be considered, seem”). More at methinks.

Verb

think (third-person singular simple present thinks, present participle thinking, simple past and past participle thought)

1. (obsolete except in methinks) To seem, to appear.

Translations

References

Scots

Etymology

From earlier thynk, from Middle English thynken, thinken, from Old English þencan, þen?ean.

Verb

think (third-person singular present thinks, present participle thinking, past thocht, past participle thocht)

1. (transitive) to think, to conceive, to have in mind
2. (transitive) to believe, to hold as an opinion, to judge; to feel, to have as an emotion
3. (transitive or intransitive) to ponder, to meditate, to consider, to reflect on
4. (transitive or intransitive) to have scruples, to doubt, to reconsider
5. to devise, to work out, to contrive
6. (archaic, with shame) to be ashamed

Noun

think (plural thinks)

1. thought, opinion, frequently one’s own opinion

References

• “think” in Dictionary of the Scots Language, Scottish Language Dictionaries, Edinburgh, retrieved 19 June 2018.

English

Etymology

From Latin infer?, from Latin in- (“in, at, on; into”) + Latin fer? (“bear, carry; suffer”) (cognate to Old English beran, whence English bear), from Proto-Italic *fer?, from Proto-Indo-European *b?éreti (“to bear, carry”), from the root *b?er-. Literally “carry forward”, equivalent to “bear in”, as in concluding from a premise.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?f?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?f??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Verb

infer (third-person singular simple present infers, present participle inferring, simple past and past participle inferred)

1. (transitive) To introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence. [from 16th c.]
   • 2010, "Keep calm, but don't carry on", The Economist, 7 Oct 2010:

     It is dangerous to infer too much from martial bluster in British politics: at the first hint of trouble, channelling Churchill is a default tactic for beleaguered leaders of all sorts.

2. (transitive) To lead to (something) as a consequence; to imply. (Now often considered incorrect, especially with a person as subject.) [from 16th c.]
   • a. 1535, Thomas More, letter to Fryth

     the fyrste parte is not the proofe of the second. but rather contrarywyse the seconde inferreth well y? fyrst.

3. (obsolete) To cause, inflict (something) upon or to someone. [16th-18th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.8:

     faire Serena […] fled fast away, afeard / Of villany to be to her inferd […].

4. (obsolete) To introduce (a subject) in speaking, writing etc.; to bring in. [16th–18th c.]

Usage notes

There are two ways in which the word "infer" is sometimes used as if it meant "imply". "Implication" is done by a person when making a "statement", whereas "inference" is done to a proposition after it had already been made or assumed. Secondly, the word "infer" can sometimes be used to mean "allude" or "express" in a suggestive manner rather than as a direct "statement". Using the word "infer" in this sense is now generally considered incorrect. [1] [2]

Synonyms

• assume, conclude, deduce, educe, construe

Related terms

• inferable
• inference
• illative
• illation
• -ferous (-iferous)

Translations

Anagrams

• -frine, Finer, finer, frine

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?in.fer/, [???f?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?in.fer/, [?inf?r]

Verb

?nfer

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

References

• infer in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• infer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette