infer

/in-ˈfər/

Middle French or Latin; Middle French inferer, from Latin inferre, literally, to carry or bring into, from in- + ferre to carry

verb

  1. to derive as a conclusion from facts or premises

  2. guess, surmise

  3. to involve as a normal outcome of thought

we see smoke and infer fire

infer deduce conclude judge gather mean to arrive at a mental conclusion. infer implies arriving at a conclusion by reasoning from evidence; if the evidence is slight, the term comes close to surmise. deduce often adds to infer the special implication of drawing a particular inference from a generalization.