Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Inference

In′fer·ence (ĭn′fẽr·ens), n. [From Infer.]

1. The act or process of inferring by deduction or induction.

Though it may chance to be right in the conclusions, it is yet unjust and mistaken in the method of inference. Glanvill.

2. That which inferred; a truth or proposition drawn from another which is admitted or supposed to be true; a conclusion; a deduction. Milton.

These inferences, or conclusions, are the effects of reasoning, and the three propositions, taken all together, are called syllogism, or argument. I. Watts.

Syn. — Conclusion; deduction; consequence. — Inference, Conclusion. An inference is literally that which is brought in; and hence, a deduction or induction from premises, — something which follows as certainly or probably true. A conclusion is stronger than an inference; it shuts us up to the result, and terminates inquiry. We infer what is particular or probable; we conclude what is certain. In a chain of reasoning we have many inferences, which lead to the ultimate conclusion. "An inference is a proposition which is perceived to be true, because of its connection with some known fact." "When something is simply affirmed to be true, it is called a proposition; after it has been found to be true by several reasons or arguments, it is called a conclusion." I. Taylor.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.