intimation

noun

in·​ti·​ma·​tion ˌin-tə-ˈmā-shən 

plural intimations

: an indirect, usually subtle suggestion, indication, or hint

intimations that she may retire from teaching next year

It can be any time from the earliest intimation of fall, when wetland maples turn a searing red, to the third week of October, when gaudy leaves carpet the forest floor.

—Madeline Drexler

They bored me stiff but George had expertise and gave occasional intimations of power in reserve.

—Tobias Wolff

Synonyms

• indication
• clue
• hint
• cue
• suggestion

Examples of intimation in a Sentence

the newscaster could not resist giving a slight intimation that the voting was going contrary to predictions

Recent Examples on the Web

The very strong intimation is that I was nourished by this wasteland. —George Caulkin, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2025

Donald Trump had already broken with international consensus by claiming, the month before, that Joe Biden’s intimations that Ukraine would one day join NATO had driven Russia to invade its neighbor in 2022. —Samuel Moyn, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025

Here, in a cheerfully cartoonish form, were intimations of just that. —Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 29 June 2025

There are intimations of down-home prosperity, like horn blasts in the fog. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 21 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1531, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for intimation

• abdication
• aberration
• abjuration
• abnegation
• abrogation
• acceptation
• acclamation
• acclimation
• accusation
• activation
• actuation
• acylation