infer

infer, deduce, conclude, judge, gather are comparable when they mean to arrive at by reasoning from evidence or from premises. All except gather are so clearly differentiated in logical use that these distinctions tend to be retained in general use. The derivative nouns inference, deduction, conclusion, judgment, especially as applied to the propositions or mental formulations derived by reasoning, are even more precisely fixed in usage.

Infer basically implies a formulating (as of an opinion, a principle, a fact, or a probability) from evidence presented or premises accepted. In general use the term often connotes slightness in the evidence and so comes close to surmise; in logic, however, it and inference convey no suggestion of weakness or strength

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"I see motion," said Thomas: "I infer a motor!" This reasoning . . . is . . . stronger than some more modern inferences of science— Henry Adams

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"Oh, well, don't worry. Jane hasn't got any complexes." From which Gard . . . inferred she thought he [Gard] had— Mary Austin

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Deduce, in nontechnical language, usually means to infer, with added implications of very definite grounds for the inference; in strict logical use, it means to derive an inference from a general principle; that is, to make a deduction as opposed to an induction (see DEDUCTION 3). This distinction, an important one to logicians and philosophers, is nearly lost in general use

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what a man is as an end perishes when he dies; what he produces as a means continues to the end of time. We cannot deny this, but we can deny the consequences deduced from it— Russell

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the last entry was in pencil, three weeks previous as to date, and had been written by someone with a very unsteady hand. I deduced from this that the management was not overparticular— Chandler

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Conclude is often employed as an equivalent of deduce in its general sense. More precisely used, it means to draw the inference that is the necessary consequence of preceding propositions whether these propositions are the premises of a syllogism or the members of a series of previously drawn inferences constituting an unbroken chain of reasoning.

A conclusion is therefore either the third proposition of a syllogism or the final, summarizing proposition in a rational process. In general use conclude and conclusion frequently preserve the implication of logical necessity in the inference

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do not conclude that all State activities will be State monopolies— Shaw

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the more one scans the later pages of Mark Twain's history the more one is forced to the conclusion that there was something gravely amiss with his inner life— Brooks'

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on the basis of years of intensive work . . . [he] concludes that comic books are a profound "anti-educational" influence— Mills

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Judge and judgment are nearly equivalent to conclude and conclusion but usually connote careful examination of evidence or critical testing of premises and the fitness of the conclusion for affirmation

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an economist should form an independent judgment on currency questions, but an ordinary mortal had better follow authority— Russell

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his career will inevitably be judged by the achievements or failures of his Government as a whole— Wills

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most of the tribes of Southern Iraq, judged by their physical characteristics, are of very mixed origin— Thesiger

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To gather is to conclude, but it connotes reflection rather than careful reasoning, and the putting of two and two together

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thereby he may gather the ground of your ill will— Shak.

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from Thomasin's words and manner he had plainly gathered that Wildeve neglected her— Hardy

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Analogous words: reason, speculate, *think: surmise, *conjecture, guess