Implicers

Implicers is a plural noun referring to agents, mechanisms, or persons that convey or rely on implicit meaning rather than explicit statements. The term is a neologism built from imply and implicate, used mainly in linguistic, literary, and speculative contexts. In linguistics, an implicer is a person or device whose communicative effect rests on implicatures—meanings that are not directly asserted but inferred from context, shared knowledge, and conversational norms. The concept is related to the theory of implicature developed by Grice; implicers influence interpretation by choosing words, tone, presuppositions, or contextual cues that invite inference rather than direct assertion.

In practice, implicers can be speakers who rely on indirect speech acts, insinuation, or rhetoric to achieve a goal without explicit statements, or interpreters who read such cues to derive intended messages. The term is rarely used in formal syntax and semantics, where standard terms are implicature or indirect speech.

In fiction and world-building, implicers are often depicted as actors who steer events through ambiguity, rumors, or strategic vagueness, allowing plausible deniability. Such depictions explore themes of power, persuasion, and information control, and frequently highlight ethical tensions around truth and inference.

See also: implicature, indirect speech, insinuation, rhetoric, social engineering.