intimation

UK/ˌɪntəˈmeɪʃən/US/ˌɪntəˈmeɪʃən/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — intimate sits at #3,075neutral

Other forms: intimations

An intimation is a quiet hint that something is so. The first intimation of trouble.

It is indirect on purpose, which is what separates it from an announcement. In Scotland an intimation is also the formal public notice of a death or a marriage.

Definitions of intimation

1nounintimationA quiet hint that something is so.C2
“The first intimation was a letter that explained nothing.”

intimation is a hint.

Where it comes from

Latin intimatio, from intimare, to make known, from intimus, innermost, the root of intimate.

Latin
intimatio
Middle French
intimation
English, today
intimation

From Middle French intimation, from Latin intimatio. by surface analysis, intimate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

← Vocabulary

intimation

UK/ˌɪntəˈmeɪʃən/US/ˌɪntəˈmeɪʃən/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — intimate sits at #3,075neutral

Other forms: intimations

An intimation is a quiet hint that something is so. The first intimation of trouble.

It is indirect on purpose, which is what separates it from an announcement. In Scotland an intimation is also the formal public notice of a death or a marriage.

Definitions of intimation

1nounintimationA quiet hint that something is so.C2
“The first intimation was a letter that explained nothing.”

intimation is a hint.

Where it comes from

Latin intimatio, from intimare, to make known, from intimus, innermost, the root of intimate.

Latin
intimatio
Middle French
intimation
English, today
intimation

From Middle French intimation, from Latin intimatio. by surface analysis, intimate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA