The act of implicating, or the state of being implicated. [1913 Webster]
"Three principal causes of firmness are. the grossness, the quiet contact, and the implication of component parts." [1913 Webster]
An implying, or that which is implied, but not expressed; an inference, or something which may fairly be understood, though not expressed in words. [1913 Webster]
"Whatever things, therefore, it was asserted that the king might do, it was a necessary implication that there were other things which he could not do." [1913 Webster]

top

OXFORD DICTIONARY

implication, n.
1 what is involved in or implied by something else.
2 the act of implicating or implying.

Idiom

by implication by what is implied or suggested rather than by formal expression.

Etymology

ME f. L implicatio (as IMPLICATE)

top

THESAURUS

implication

absorption, accusal, accusation, accusing, affective meaning, allegation, allegement, allegory, allusion, arcane meaning, arraignability, arraignableness, arraignment, assault, association, assumption, attack, bearing, bill of particulars, blame, blameworthiness, bloody hands, bringing of charges, bringing to book, broad hint, burden, censurability, censurableness, censure, charge, chargeability, citation, clue, coloration, coloring, complaint, complicity, conclusion, connection, connotation, consequence, count, criminality, cue, culpability, delation, denotation, denouncement, denunciation, dirty hands, drift, effect, embarrassment, engagement, enmeshment, entailment, entanglement, essence, extension, force, gentle hint, gesture, gist, glimmer, glimmering, grammatical meaning, guilt, guiltiness, guilty conscience, hint, idea, impact, impeachability, impeachableness, impeachment, implied meaning, import, impugnment, imputation, inclusion, incrimination, inculpation, index, indication, indictability, indictableness, indictment, inference, information, inkling, innuendo, insinuation, intension, intimation, involution, involvement, ironic suggestion, kick, lawsuit, laying of charges, lexical meaning, literal meaning, look, meaning, metaphorical sense, nod, nuance, nudge, occult meaning, onus, overtone, peccancy, pertinence, pith, plaint, point, practical consequence, presumption, presupposition, prompt, prosecution, purport, range of meaning, real meaning, red-handedness, reference, referent, relation, relevance, reprehensibility, reproach, reproachableness, reprovability, reprovableness, scent, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, sign, signal, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, span of meaning, spirit, spoor, structural meaning, subsense, subsidiary sense, substance, subsumption, suggestion, suit, sum, sum and substance, supposition, suspicion, symbolic meaning, symbolism, symptom, taxing, telltale, tenor, tinge, totality of associations, touch, track, transferred meaning, true bill, unadorned meaning, undercurrent, undermeaning, undertone, unspoken accusation, value, veiled accusation, whisper, wink

top

ROGET THESAURUS

implication

Complexity

N complexity, complexness, complexus, complication, implication, intricacy, intrication, perplexity, network, labyrinth, wilderness, jungle, involution, raveling, entanglement, coil, sleave, tangled skein, knot, Gordian knot, wheels within wheels, kink, gnarl, knarl, webwork, difficulty, gnarled, knarled, complex, complexed, intricate, complicated, perplexed, involved, raveled, entangled, knotted, tangled, inextricable, irreducible.

Meaning

N meaning, signification, significance, sense, expression, import, purport, force, drift, tenor, spirit, bearing, coloring, scope, substance, gist, essence, marrow, spirit, matter, subject, subject matter, argument, text, sum and substance, general meaning, broad meaning, substantial meaning, colloquial meaning, literal meaning, plain meaning, simple meaning, natural meaning, unstrained meaning, true meaning, honest meaning, &c 543 prima facie meaning, letter of the law, literally, after acceptation, synonym, implication, allusion, suggestion, figure of speech, acceptation, meaning, expressive, suggestive, allusive, significant, significative, significatory, pithy, full of meaning, pregnant with meaning, declaratory, intelligible, literal, synonymous, tantamount, implied, explicit, to that effect, that is to say.

Implication

N latency, implication, latency, inexpression, hidden meaning, occult meaning, occultness, mystery, cabala, anagoge, silence, concealment, more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear, Delphic oracle, le dessous des cartes, undercurrent, implication, logical implication, logical consequence, entailment, allusion, insinuation, innuendo, adumbration, something rotten in the state of Denmark, snake in the grass, secret, darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility, latent, lurking, secret, occult, implied, dormant, abeyant, unapparent, unknown, unseen, in the background, invisible, indiscoverable, dark, impenetrable, unspied, unsuspected, unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed, untalked of, untold &c, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed, undisclosed, unexpressed, not expressed, tacit, undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced, undiscovered, untracked, unexplored, uninvented, indirect, crooked, inferential, by inference, by implication, implicit, constructive, allusive, covert, muffled, steganographic, understood, underhand, underground, delitescent, concealed, by a side wind, sub silentio, in the background, behind the scenes, behind one's back, on the tip of one's tongue, secretly, between the lines, thereby hangs a tale, tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus, where there's smoke, there's fire, latency, implication, latency, inexpression, hidden meaning, occult meaning, occultness, mystery, cabala, anagoge, silence, concealment, more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear, Delphic oracle, le dessous des cartes, undercurrent, implication, logical implication, logical consequence, entailment, allusion, insinuation, innuendo, adumbration, something rotten in the state of Denmark, snake in the grass, secret, darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility, latent, lurking, secret, occult, implied, dormant, abeyant, unapparent, unknown, unseen, in the background, invisible, indiscoverable, dark, impenetrable, unspied, unsuspected, unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed, untalked of, untold &c, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed, undisclosed, unexpressed, not expressed, tacit, undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced, undiscovered, untracked, unexplored, uninvented, indirect, crooked, inferential, by inference, by implication, implicit, constructive, allusive, covert, muffled, steganographic, understood, underhand, underground, delitescent, concealed, by a side wind, sub silentio, in the background, behind the scenes, behind one's back, on the tip of one's tongue, secretly, between the lines, thereby hangs a tale, tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus, where there's smoke, there's fire.

For further exploring for "implication" in Webster Dictionary Online