- of, relating to, or derived from inference
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
in•fer•en•tial
(in′fə ren′shəl),USA pronunciation adj.
in′fer•en′tial•ly, adv.
- Philosophyof, pertaining to, by, or dependent upon inference.
- Medieval Latin inferenti(a) inference + -al1
- 1650–60
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
inferential /ˌɪnfəˈrɛnʃəl/ adj
in•fer•ence /ˈɪnfərəns, ˈɪnfrəns/USA pronunciation
n. the process of drawing a conclusion from reasoning:[uncountable]Deductive inference can sometimes lead to the wrong conclusion.
in•fer•en•tial /ˌɪnfəˈrɛnʃəl/USA pronunciation adj. See -fer-.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- [countable] an act or instance of inferring:Don't make such rash inferences from such small evidence.
in•fer•ence
(in′fər əns, -frəns),USA pronunciation n.
- the act or process of inferring.
- something that is inferred:to make rash inferences.
- Philosophy[Logic.]
- the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.
- the process of arriving at some conclusion that, though it is not logically derivable from the assumed premises, possesses some degree of probability relative to the premises.
- a proposition reached by a process of inference.
- Medieval Latin inferentia. See infer, -ence
- 1585–95
'inferential' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):