Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of intimating or announcing.
- n. An announcement; a formal declaration or notification: as, an intimation from the Foreign Office.
- n. Information indirectly or covertly imparted; a suggestion or hint; an implied meaning: as, an intimation that one's presence is not desired; intimation of danger.
- n. Synonyms Suggestion, Insinuation, etc. See hint, v. t.
Wiktionary
- n. The act of intimating; also, the thing intimated.
- n. Announcement; declaration.
- n. A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference; as, he had given only intimations of his design.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of intimating; also, the thing intimated.
- n. Announcement; declaration.
- n. A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an indirect suggestion
- n. a slight suggestion or vague understanding
Etymologies
- From Latin intimatio (Compare French intimation) (Wiktionary)
Examples
“This intimation is the proceed of mere love, which, whether you embrace or no, I shall still continue all those good wishes and offices of respect that may become”
Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple (1652-54)
“William Jefferson, known to be less than scrupulous (the FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer, and the intimation is that he is connected to some shady individuals from South America), re-elected to Congress in a landslide, primarily due the rantings of the autocratic sheriff of Jefferson Parish.”
Think Progress » Chertoff Learned of Levee Failure 36 Hours After Mayor Nagin?
“I have received intimation from the Editor that the record will appear in the 2007 issue of the Records Book under the category of ‘Communication’.”
Guinness World Book of Records and Other Blog Score Cards « Lorelle on WordPress
“Q Did you get any readout on Vice President Mondale's meeting, and did he get any intimation from the Indonesians that they will stick with the IMF reforms?”
“It might be the handkerchief sent back to her, it might be some other plain intimation that he had changed his mind.”
“No intimation from the Confederate army, or from the men controlling it, in relation to a peace compromise has ever come to”
“An intimation from the War-office appeared in all the newspapers, calling on half-pay officers either to sell their commissions or to hold themselves in readiness to join some regiment.”
“The first check to her duteous demonstrations was a formal intimation from the fallen majesty of England, that I was in no manner to be intruded upon her.”
“The relating of this matter so briefly, is a plain intimation to us, that we must not look that way for a confirmation of our faith; we have a more sure word of prophecy.”
“This is a plain intimation that in the days of the Messiah an end should be put, not only to the sacrifices of atonement, but to those of praise and acknowledgment which were instituted by the ceremonial law; and, instead of them, spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving are accepted -- the calves of our lips, not the calves of the stall, Heb. xiii.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘intimation’.
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 467 more...
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Rhetorical Devices
trope, wellerism, antimetabole, syncope, open-list, accismus, abating, abbaser, abecedarian, abcisio, ablatio, abominatio and 425 more...
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Favorite Words Ending In 'tion
obfuscation, delineation, ratiocination, proprioception, gesticulation, oscillation, undulation, fasciculation, confabulation, interdiction, juxtaposition, commiseration and 41 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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Manji's Random Wordlist
The title says it all
velour, vivacity, subterfuge, sable, divination, gentry, vindication, compendium, pistons, metamorphosis, methodology, polyphony and 91 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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vorpal's Words
parabiosis, penumbra, defenestrate, portmanteau, sturm und drang, perspicacious, quixotic, copacetic, obfuscate, inveigle, shadenfreude, cloister and 349 more...
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strieale's Words
scientism, chronological, christophobia, subsurface, high culture, jeffersonian demo..., jacksonian democracy, incommensurable, rebuttal, discerning, disparate, anodyne and 156 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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Thomas's Words
argus-eyed, chasmophile, extirpate, aperitif, outre, repartee, schadenfreude, insouciant, joie de vivre, callipygian, cavil, ad hominem and 147 more...
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Rita's List of Words
preliminary, rudimentary, stance, conduit, locale, implicit, vicissitude, empirical, repository, apophthegm, apothegm, invariable and 431 more...
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random
words I read but don't know
nascent, proxy, desultory, charlatan, churlish, emaciated, gaudy, shill, lurid, frisson, marauding, plunder and 610 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 1991 more...
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thricedotted's Words
schadenfreude, vanquish, calumny, obsequious, rhapsody, expostulate, promontory, bordello, quintessence, catharsis, recapitulation, myriad and 937 more...
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6 narrative descriptive
inveterate, insipid, puerile, petulant, recalcitrant, assiduous, indigent, incorrigible, deface, privation, intimation, torrid and 52 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for intimation.

bilby "She had always had an intimation of her destiny: all her senses would go on the alert, as if bracing her for a blow-a terrible, crushing, powerful blow-of luck, whether good or bad."
- Nina Berberova, 'Cape of Storms' (translated by Marian Schwartz). Nov 10, 2008