{
    "term": "infer",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "infer",
            "heSheIt": "infers"
        },
        "pastSimple": "inferred",
        "pastParticiple": "inferred",
        "ingForm": "inferring"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to reach an opinion or decide that something is true on the basis of information that is available",
            "sensetop": "infer something (from something)infer that…",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Much of the meaning must be inferred from the context.",
                    "contextForm": "infer something (from something)"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Readers are left to infer the killer’s motives."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It is reasonable to infer that the government knew about these deals.",
                    "contextForm": "infer that…"
                },
                {
                    "text": "From this study we can reasonably infer that this characteristic is inherited."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It is difficult to infer anything from such evidence."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It can be inferred from the evidence that the killer was quite a young man."
                },
                {
                    "text": "What can we infer about the state of mind of the writer?"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Opinion and argument"],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["reasonably", "correctly", "incorrectly"],
                "verb + infer": ["can", "be possible to", "be difficult to"],
                "preposition": ["from"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to suggest indirectly that something is true",
            "sensetop": "infer (that)…infer something",
            "labels": "(non-standard)",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Are you inferring (that) I’m not capable of doing the job?"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Suggestions and advice"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜː(r)/",
                "audio": "in/infer/infer__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːz/",
                "audio": "in/infer/infers__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːd/",
                "audio": "in/infer/inferred__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːrɪŋ/",
                "audio": "in/infer/inferring__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːr/",
                "audio": "in/infer/infer__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːrz/",
                "audio": "in/infer/infers__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːrd/",
                "audio": "in/infer/inferred__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɪnˈfɜːrɪŋ/",
                "audio": "in/infer/inferring__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late 15th cent. (in the sense ‘bring about, inflict’): from Latin inferre ‘bring in, bring about’ (in medieval Latin ‘deduce’), from in- ‘into’ + ferre ‘bring’."
}