Definition

Adjective: 1. Relating to or involving logical implication: Pertaining to the relationship where one statement or proposition logically entails or suggests another. 2. Concerned with what is implied or suggested: Involving the expression or understanding of something that is not directly stated but is inferred.

Usage

The adjective "implicational" is primarily used in formal, academic, or technical contexts, such as logic, linguistics, and philosophy. It describes concepts, rules, or patterns that are based on or deal with implication.

Examples

• The linguist proposed an implicational hierarchy to explain the order in which children acquire grammatical structures.
• This theory makes several strong implicational claims about the relationship between social factors and language use.
• In logic, an implicational connective is a symbol that represents "if...then..."

Advanced Usage

• Implicational Universals: A key concept in linguistics referring to universal patterns of the form "If a language has feature X, then it will also have feature Y." For example, if a language has a dual number, it also has a plural number.
• Implicational Scale: A methodological tool used in sociolinguistics and other fields to represent and analyze the ordered relationships between variables.

Variants and Related Words

• Implication (noun): The conclusion that can be drawn from something, although it is not explicitly stated; a likely consequence.
  • The implication of his statement was clear.
• Implicative (adjective): Tending to imply or suggest something. Often used synonymously with "implicational," though "implicational" is more common in technical literature.
  • Her silence was highly implicative.

Synonyms

• Consequential
• Inferential
• Suggestive

Antonyms

• Explicit
• Direct
• Unambiguous

Adjective

1. relating to or concerned with logical implication
   • implicational language universals