implicit

adjective

im·​plic·​it im-ˈpli-sət 

1

a

: capable of being understood from something else though unexpressed : implied

an implicit assumption

Still another problem for Middle America was how corporations … were allowed to breach the implicit social contract of the postwar era.

—Kevin Phillips

compare explicit sense 1a

b

: present but not consciously held or recognized

implicit attitudes

implicit racism

see also implicit bias

2

: not lessened by doubt : absolute, complete

There's an implicit trust between them.

The implicit confidence that her destiny must be one of luxurious ease …

—George Eliot

3

a

: involved in the nature or essence of something though not revealed, expressed, or developed : potential

… a sculptor may see different figures implicit in a block of stone.

—John Dewey

… made a deepfake video to demonstrate the dangers implicit in the technology.

—Andrea Bellemare

b

of a mathematical function : defined by an expression in which the dependent variable and the one or more independent variables are not separated on opposite sides of an equation compare explicit sense 4

implicitly adverb

implicitness noun

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Implicit With a Preposition

Implicit is often followed by a preposition, and that preposition is usually in:

"American Horror Story" is a pretty grisly show. No one should be too surprised by that revelation — it’s sort of the promise implicit in its name, after all.
—Lacy Baugher, The Baltimore Sun, 3 Nov. 2016

On less frequent occasions, implicit may be followed by from, with, or within:

[S]uch a ruling seemed implicit from Fullam’s comments.
—Sean O’Sullivan, The News Journal (Wilmington, DE), 4 October 2006

Implicit with the discovery of oil was the hard truth that it wasn't going to last forever.
—Warren Jones et al., Alaska Dispatch News, 1 June 2016

Russia's president was explicit, calling on the West to pressure Kiev to deliver results. Implicit within that was a threat: that Moscow will not play along with the talks forever.
—Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, 14 Aug. 2016

The black dead ocean looked like a mirror of the night; it was cold, implicit with dread and death…
—Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead, 1948

Synonyms

• implied
• tacit
• unexpressed
• unspoken
• unvoiced
• wordless

Example Sentences

This assumption, implicit in innumerable statements by President Reagan … dictates most of our current political and military programs. —Henry Steele Commager, Atlantic, March 1982

… in the best stories the end is implicit from the beginning. —Joan Aiken, The Writer, May 1968

The goodness and strength implicit within Pen unfold but slowly. —John DeBruyn, LIT, Spring 1966

The movies borrowed from other arts on the way to finding methods implicit in their medium. —Bernard DeVoto, The World of Fiction, 1950

There is a sense of moral duty implicit in her writings.

I have implicit trust in her honesty.

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Recent Examples on the Web

This was an apparent contradiction with comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who said hours earlier that there is an implicit blanket guarantee was in place. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 24 Mar. 2023

The vitality of human language, with its endless implicit contexts and nuances, will decline. —WIRED, 22 Mar. 2023

This elasticity of acting is a key part of the play’s vision, offering implicit proof that the divisions among us are bridgeable. —Charles Mcnulty, Los Angeles Times, 21 Mar. 2023

The Twitter Files themselves are case in point: Here, Musk has gleefully handed internal documents to right-leaning reporters with the implicit goal of bolstering many of the right’s long-standing grievances about Twitter. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 21 Mar. 2023

There is an implicit but unspoken deal between underdogs and the month of March: Most dreams come with rapid expiration dates. —The New York Times, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2023

The comments were implicit knocks on the 76-year-old Trump, who lost his own reelection bid in 2020 and was blamed for an unexpectedly poor showing by Republican candidates in last year's midterms. —Stephen Groves, Chron, 15 Mar. 2023

President Joe Biden’s remarks before departing for his West Coast trip included implicit nods to that reality. —Mark Thompson, CNN, 14 Mar. 2023

The implicit argument of Wagner’s work is that every larva matters, no matter how small, squishy, and unassuming. —Carolyn Wells, Longreads, 13 Mar. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French & Medieval Latin; French implicite, going back to Middle French, "complicated, tangled," borrowed from Medieval Latin implicitus "involved, complicated, implied," going back to Latin, "involved, intricate," variant past participle of implicāre "to fold about itself, entwine, involve" — more at implicate

Note: The Latin verb implicāre has, along with other derivatives of -plicāre, two possible past participles; see note at explicit.

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing implicit

• implicit bias
• implicit differentiation

• implicit bias
• implicit differentiation

Kids Definition

implicit

adjective

im·​plic·​it im-ˈplis-ət 

1

: understood though not put clearly into words

an implicit agreement

2

: being without doubt : absolute, complete

implicit trust

implicitly adverb

implicitness noun

Legal Definition

implicit

adjective

im·​plic·​it im-ˈpli-sət 

: capable of being recognized though unexpressed : implied

implicitly adverb