inkling
Other forms: inklings
Is someone yapping on and on and you only have the vaguest idea of what they're talking about? Then you understood just an inkling — a glimmer, a fraction — of what they were saying.
Inkling can also mean a sly suggestion or faint implication. If someone drops a hint you're not wanted they've given you an inkling you're not wanted. The word comes from the medieval English word inclen, which suitably enough means "to utter in an undertone." In other words, what's really being said is in between the lines of what's actually being said on the surface. By now you've probably got the inkling that inklings can be sneaky things.
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a slight suggestion or vague understanding“he had no inkling what was about to happen”synonyms: glimmer, glimmering, intimationtype of:suggestionan idea that is suggested
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Vocabulary lists containing inkling
In this novel, a boy with facial anomalies tries to navigate the sometimes treacherous world of public school.
Charlie Gordon goes through an experimental treatment to increase his intelligence, with unexpected and ultimately tragic results.
This adaptation of an Old English epic describes the feats of the warrior Beowulf, who arrives in the great hall of Heorot to defeat a bloodthirsty monster.