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/ˈɪnfərəns/ Listen

noun

Inference n.

The act or process of inferring by deduction or induction. "Though it may chance to be right in the conclusions, it is yet unjust and mistaken in the method of inference."

That which inferred; a truth or proposition drawn from another which is admitted or supposed to be true; a conclusion; a deduction. "These inferences, or conclusions, are the effects of reasoning, and the three propositions, taken all together, are called syllogism, or argument."

Synonyms: Conclusion; deduction; consequence. Inference, Conclusion. An inference is literally that which is brought in; and hence, a deduction or induction from premises, something which follows as certainly or probably true. A conclusion is stronger than an inference; it shuts us up to the result, and terminates inquiry. We infer what is particular or probable; we conclude what is certain. In a chain of reasoning we have many inferences, which lead to the ultimate conclusion. "An inference is a proposition which is perceived to be true, because of its connection with some known fact." "When something is simply affirmed to be true, it is called a proposition; after it has been found to be true by several reasons or arguments, it is called a conclusion."

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Etymology of 'Inference'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Inference" Quotes from Famous Books

... sum and substance of it. As he dropped out of her world, some one else quite naturally rose to fill the void. That person was Fairfax. The big man had said that she wanted a separation, she wanted to provide a safe haven for Phoebe. The inference was plain. She wanted to get rid of him in order to marry Fairfax. Fairfax had been honest enough to confess that he was acting on his own initiative in proposing the bribe, but there must have been something behind ...

— What's-His-Name • George Barr McCutcheon

... called "a kind of pious perjury," was engaged in devising means by which those who were legally guilty could escape from the penalty; and if it be true that an unpacked jury would possibly in many instances of political offences in Ireland have a prejudice in favour of the accused, the inference is not consequently to be drawn that the ends of justice can only be secured by substituting, as is done, a jury which has a prejudice against him. It is not by methods like these that are inspired sentiments, such as those which prompted Victor Hugo eloquently to describe ...

— Ireland and the Home Rule Movement • Michael F. J. McDonnell

... red walls with a girdle of hedge-rows, all clustered about an immense brown old abbey. When Lady Agnes's imagination rested upon the future of her second son she liked to remember that Mr. Carteret had nothing to "keep up": the inference seemed so direct that he ...

— The Tragic Muse • Henry James

... her husband was more thoughtful and less talkative than usual. She asked, however, no direct question touching this change; but regarded what he did say with closer attention, hoping to draw a correct inference, without seeming to notice ...

— True Riches - Or, Wealth Without Wings • T.S. Arthur

... her looks, and her manner, on that unfortunate day when my mistress so far forget herself as to strike, her, came back dimly to my memory, and led to the inference that part of the motive, at least, of which I was in search, might be referred to what had happened on that occasion. But was this the only reason for her devilish vengeance against my mistress? And, even if it were so, what fancied injuries had I done her? Why should I be included ...

— The Queen of Hearts • Wilkie Collins

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