implication

Research

Something that follows from a finding without being directly stated — split into theoretical and practical implications in a discussion section.

Sources

1. Merriam-Webster — implication merriam-webster.com accessed 23 September 2026

Merriam-Webster: “something implied”, including “a possible significance or future effect”; the state of being implicated or involved; and, in logic, “a relationship between propositions where the first being true means the second must be true”. From Latin implicāre, “to fold about itself, entwine, involve”; first recorded in the fifteenth century in the incrimination sense. A paper’s “implications” section trades on the first meaning while borrowing authority from the third — worth noticing when writing one.

Merriam-Webster is cited as the dictionary of record: where an entry defines a word rather than a position, a dictionary is the primary source for it. The research usage above is this lexicon’s own.

Related terms

• Abbreviation
• Abstract
• Abstraction
• Academic Database
• Analysis
• Annotation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).