Timeline for Does "intimate" = "imply + infer"? Or just "hint at"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Mar 5, 2017 at 22:56 | comment | added | Lawrence | @JoshuaKolden You seem to raise 2 issues: subtlety and tense. I'd accept that hint has a broader semantic range than intimate. Although intimations tend to be 'hidden messages' while hints may be directly stated, it doesn't stop hidden messages from being described as hints. About the quote, I don't see the problem. ODO tends to use the present tense for the word being defined, then provides examples of the word used in various tenses. In any case, the main point of my answer was that intimations are made intentionally, requiring sentience - something not normally attributed to doors. | |
| Mar 5, 2017 at 22:24 | comment | added | Joshua Kolden |
Does anyone else find the ODO/OED quote problematic? My understanding (from usage) is that to intimate something is to communicate it more subtly then to hint at it, not that they are equivalent as the answer suggests. I do no use these words interchangeably. The quoted verb clause case says "imply or hint:" (i.e. equivalent) but then says "he had already intimated" which to me is right on the edge of contradicting itself, but in effect seems to agree with the notion that intimating is to a degree more subtle then hinting.
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| Aug 27, 2016 at 23:06 | history | edited | Lawrence | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Provided justification for my assessment of whether particular examples worked.
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| Aug 27, 2016 at 19:00 | comment | added | brasshat | @Beabonmot, Awhile I am not a geologist, and have no certainty whatsoever that it is true in this case, sometimes in small communities, such as geologists, ordinary words take on meaning within the community that differs slightly from, though is usually related to the original meaning. This might be the case with the second example from MW. | |
| Apr 29, 2016 at 5:14 | comment | added | Lawrence | @BeaBonmot You're welcome. And yes, (some of) the dictionary examples show figurative use of intimating. | |
| Apr 29, 2016 at 5:14 | history | edited | Lawrence | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 29, 2016 at 4:52 | comment | added | Bea Bonmot | Thank you! So the example with the dome tops of the hills "intimating" is an example of anthropomorphizing? I guess if I were a very devoted geologist I would "read" or "listen" to land forms for the histories of their formations...or is that just a kinda clunky/incorrect use of "intimating"? | |
| Apr 29, 2016 at 3:55 | history | answered | Lawrence | CC BY-SA 3.0 |