implicit

adjective

1 the implicit assumptions of much sociological writing on women:

implied, indirect, inferred, understood, hinted, suggested, deducible;

unspoken, unexpressed, undeclared, unstated, unsaid, tacit, unacknowledged, silent, taken for granted, taken as read, assumed.

▷antonyms explicit, direct.

2 there are a number of assumptions implicit in the way the questions are asked:

inherent, latent, underlying, inbuilt, incorporated;

fundamental.

▷antonyms explicit, direct.

3 an implicit trust in human nature:

absolute, complete, entire, total, wholehearted, perfect, sheer, utter;

unqualified, unconditional, unreserved, unadulterated, unalloyed, undiluted, positive;

unshaken, unshakeable, unhesitating, unquestioning, firm, steadfast, constant.

▷antonyms limited.

choose the right word

implicit, tacit, unspoken

These words all describe ideas that can be understood despite not being directly expressed.

■ A meaning or message that is implicit is not stated openly but can be worked out by reasoning from what has been said (the speech contained an implicit condemnation of nuclear weapons). Similarly, an implicitattitude or belief can be inferred from the behaviour that it prompts (we must examine assumptions implicit in the way the questions are asked).

■ Tacit, from the Latin for ‘silent’, is typically used to describe situations involving agreement or cooperation in which the underlying attitude, though not expressed directly, is nevertheless understood and accepted by the parties involved (the government depended on a tacit agreement with other parties | tacit support for the rebels).

■ Unspoken basically means that something is not said aloud (‘It was Father's,’ she said to his unspoken question), and depending on context it can have opposite implications. Something may be unspoken because it is to be kept secret (unspoken resentment), or it may describe a message that is made very clear and is possibly all the more effective for not being explicit (there was always an element of unspoken threat).

implicit Oxford Dictionary of English