- an indirect suggestion; slight indication; hint
- a vague idea or notion; suspicion
Origin of inkling
Middle English ingkiling from inclen, to give an inkling of
noun
The definition of an inkling is a suspicion or a hint.
When you kind of suspect that someone is planning a surprise party for you but you are not quite sure, this is an example of an inkling.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"inkling." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 21 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling>.
APA Style
inkling. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21st, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling
inkling
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"inkling." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 21 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling>.
APA Style
inkling. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21st, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling
inkling
noun
- A slight hint or indication.
- A slight understanding or vague idea or notion.
Origin of inkling
Probably alteration of Middle English (a) ningkiling (a) hint, suggestion possibly alteration of nikking from nikken to mark a text for correction from nik notch, tally perhaps from variant of Old French niche niche ; see niche .THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"inkling." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 21 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling>.
APA Style
inkling. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21st, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling
Verb
- Present participle of inkle.
Origin
From Middle English, from inklen, inclen (“to give an inkling of, hint at, mention, utter in an undertone”), from inke (“apprehension, misgiving”), from Old English inca (“doubt, suspicion”), from Proto-Germanic *inkô (“ache, regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *yenǵ- (“illness”). Cognate with Old Frisian jinc (“angered”), Old Norse ekki (“pain, grief”), Norwegian ekkje (“lack, pity”).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"inkling." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 21 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling>.
APA Style
inkling. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21st, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inkling
Sentence Examples
- Passwords should never be your birth date, anniversary, form of your name, etc., Make it hard to figure out, and if you have the slightest inkling someone has tapped into it, change it.
- But long before Jacobs had the inkling to make a bra, Jean Julian Josselin had been closing up the 19th by improving the corset in many uncomfortable ways.
- Alex didn't look at Carmen, which was her first inkling that something was amiss.
- She was beginning to get an inkling why the job was still open.
- It shows me you have some inkling of the importance of this gift you possess and the dire consequences of it falling into the wrong hands.
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