Inference
['ɪnf(ə)r(ə)ns] or ['ɪnfərəns]
Definition
(noun.) the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation.
Editor: Rudolf--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act or process of inferring by deduction or induction.
(n.) That which inferred; a truth or proposition drawn from another which is admitted or supposed to be true; a conclusion; a deduction.
Checked by Brits
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Conclusion, deduction, consequence, corollary.
Edited by Barrett
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Deduction, corollary, conclusion, consequence
ANT:Statement, proposition, enunciation
Checker: Myrna
Examples
- Can anybody fail to make the inference what the practical result will be? Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The inference was too plain to be resisted. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Surely the plain inference that follows needs no pointing out? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The necessary connexion betwixt causes and effects is the foundation of our inference from one to the other. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Mrs. Archer smiled at this confirmation of her inference. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The inference I drew from this was--that he had a special purpose in asking me his last question, and a special interest in hearing my answer to it. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I cannot say with truth that the terrible inference which those words suggested flashed upon me like a new revelation. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- That is the inference, I suppose. Plato. The Republic.
- Their minds construct a utopia--one in which all judgments are based on logical inference from syllogisms built on the law of mathematical probabilities. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Such an inference would amount to knowledge, and would imply the absolute contradiction and impossibility of conceiving any thing different. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- To get all the advantage of being with men of this sort, you must know how to draw your inferences, and not be a spoon who takes things literally. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- You are too timid in drawing your inferences. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Yes, said Holmes; I think that both inferences are permissible. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Let us see how far these several facts and inferences accord with the theory of descent with modification. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- By the help of inferences and innuendoes, treasons multiplied in a prodigious manner. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Knowing how unjust other people's inferences are when they concern us, we have begun to guess that ours may be unjust to them. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your deductions and your inferences. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- I would not trust a hermit's inferences about the statistics of anything. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- If our observant lady readers can deduce any satisfactory inferences from these facts, we beg them by all means to do so. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- We have got to the deductions and the inferences, said Lestrade, winking at me. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Editor: Marilyn