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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The act of inferring or drawing conclusions.
  2. n. A conclusion drawn; a deduction. Also called illative.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The act of inferring from premises; inference.
  2. n. That which is inferred; an inference; a deduction; a conclusion.
  3. n. In liturgics: The act of bringing the eucharistic elements into the church and placing them on the altar.
  4. n. In the Mozarabic liturgy, the eucharistic preface. It is of great length, and varies according to the Sunday or festival.

Wiktionary

  1. n. the act of inferring or concluding
  2. n. an inference, a deduction or conclusion

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The act or process of inferring from premises or reasons; perception of the connection between ideas; that which is inferred; inference; deduction; conclusion.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation

Etymologies

  1. Late Latin illātiō, illātiōn-, from Latin illātus, past participle of īnferre, to carry in, infer : in-, in; see in-2 + lātus, brought; see telə- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “While it would appear that boys and girls followed a common curriculum, there was gender differentiation: Girls received instruction in sewing and needlework and boys in cantillation of Torah and haftarah.”

    Education of Jewish Girls in the United States.

  • “For it hath to do both in knowledge and opinion, and is necessary and assisting to all our other intellectual faculties, and indeed contains two of them, viz. sagacity and illation.”

    An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

  • “There is an important sense, however, in which the epithet "material" has been applied to reasoning, to denote illation in which the relational formality has not yet been dissected out.”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss

  • “I can neither contradict," quoth I, "thy former propositions, and I see this illation followeth from them.”

    The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy

  • “A strange illation," quoth I, "and hard to be granted; but I see that those things which were granted before agree very well with these.”

    The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy

  • “Revolution is alleged, and most unreasonably alleged, to have alienated him from liberalism: 'it is a very great mistake to imagine that mankind follow up practically any speculative principle, either of government or of freedom, as far as it will go in argument and logical illation.”

    On Compromise

  • “What Burke means by compromise, and what every true statesman understands by it, is that it may be most inexpedient to meddle with an institution merely because it does not harmonise with 'argument and logical illation.”

    On Compromise

  • “It is, besides, a very great mistake to imagine that mankind follow up practically any speculative principle, either of government or of freedom, as far as it will go in argument and logical illation.”

    The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12)

  • “It is besides a very great mistake to imagine that mankind follow up practically any speculative principle, either of government or of freedom, as far as it will go in argument and logical illation.”

    Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America

  • “It is not an if of doubting, but of illation and concession; seeing he hath wronged thee, and thereby has become indebted to thee; such an if as Col.iii. 1 and 2 Pet.ii. 4, &c.”

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)

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‘illation’ has been looked up 1028 times, loved by 2 people, added to 20 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 8.