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sous-entendre

to imply, to suggest indirectly

verb soo-zahn-TAHN-druh Rare
Communication Speech

Usage Note

Sous-entendre literally means 'to hear under', capturing the idea of a meaning lurking beneath the words. The noun sous-entendu (masculine) refers to an insinuation or innuendo. It is a compound of sous ('under') and entendre ('to hear/understand'), conjugated like entendre.

Examples

"Il sous-entend qu'elle a tort."

Natural Translation

He implies that she is wrong.

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