implicate, implicit - vocabulary

verb

Implicate: to show to be also involved, usually in an incriminating manner, as in He was implicated in the crime; to imply as a necessary circumstance, or as something to be inferred or understood; to connect or relate to intimately; affect as a consequence, as in The malfunctioning of one part of the system implicates another part.

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes and free use of a limousine and hotel suites, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry.

—Scot J. Paltrow “Prosecutors May Widen Congressional-Bribe Case” Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2006

adjective

Implicit: implied rather than expressed, as in an implicit understanding; unreserved and unquestioning, absolute, as in his implicit trust in his boss; potentially contained in, as in the danger implicit in the new venture.

Even more striking, Justice O'Connor all but invited the Administration to set up a military court to hear Hamdi's plea. That suggestion goes a bridge farther than even President Bush has dared. His controversial 2001 order establishing military tribunals to try enemy combatants specifically excluded U.S. citizens even though there is ample legal precedent for their use. The Court's ruling is also an implicit suggestion that the military is capable of adequately reviewing challenges brought by the Gitmo prisoners.

—“Terror and the Court” Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2004

Grammar.com's section on Problem Words discusses implicit and explicit. Click here for that discussion.