INFERENCE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Inference

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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

... afterward covered with a lead glaze. Infinite care and pains had evidently been expended upon each piece of the ware, such pains that it must have taken much time to complete even a single article. No manufacturer could have afforded to do this, and therefore the inference had been drawn that the pottery was made purely for pleasure by some one who had an abundance of leisure. Perhaps this very Bernard, the librarian, who may have become interested in the art as a recreation, and done the ...

— The Story of Porcelain • Sara Ware Bassett

... were yet all accurately written according to his rules. This was no easy task, and he was obliged to have recourse to all manner of forced explanations. If he had been able to establish his case satisfactorily, it would but lead to the inference that the rules of Aristotle must be very loose and indeterminate, if works so dissimilar in spirit and form, as the tragedies of the Greeks and those of Corneille are yet equally true ...

— Lectures on Dramatic Art - and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel trans John Black

... was that it bred a noble spirit of emulation. He let it be known in a general way that things were looking up with him; just in what quarter he did not specify, but there he was, seated in the Belle Plain carriage and the inference was unavoidable that Miss Malroy was to recognize his ...

— The Prodigal Judge • Vaughan Kester

... escape by the over-easy ear given to exceptions in indictments, than by their own innocence."—12 Hal. P. C. 193; 4 Bla. Co. 376. The words, in the present case, are pregnant with irresistible "inference" of guilt; an additional word or two, which to us appear already implicitly there, as they are actually in the eleventh count, would have dispersed every possible film of doubt; and Lord Brougham, in giving judgment, appeared to be of this ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 349, November, 1844 • Various

... servants of God, thought they could, and did heal the sick and raise the dead, when in fact they could do no such thing. Therefore, if they pretended to do such things and did them not, they were all impostors, and surely deserve no better appellation. Now if I can bring to your mind my inference, it is this. God would not endue Jesus Christ and his apostles with power to work miracles, by which the attention of the people would be drawn to them and by which they would naturally be led to place confidence in their testimony, and yet leave them in the dark concerning those things of which ...

— A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation • Hosea Ballou

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