imply
im-PLYverbMeaning to suggest something without saying it directly
Memory hook IM-PLY: the hint goes IN the message. The café is closing. Jamal yawns and points at the clock; without a word, he implies that it is time for the last customers to go.
By yawning loudly through the whole movie, Kai implied that it was boring.
In context Mom never said that Dev’s room was messy, but she implied it: she handed him a trash bag and a laundry basket and smiled sweetly.
Similar suggest, hint, insinuate, signal
Opposite state, declare
From Old French emplier, from Latin implicare, “to fold in, to entwine”: a meaning folded inside the words.