仄めかす

• 読み: ほのめかす
• ローマ字: honomekasu
• 漢字の分解: 仄 (hono) — faint, dim, slight
• 発音: /ho.no.me.ka.sɯ/

意味

To hint at; to intimate; to suggest indirectly; to allude to; to imply. Used when conveying something without stating it outright.

A Group 1 (godan) transitive verb. Derived from 仄か (honoka, faint/dim). Describes indirect communication where the speaker deliberately avoids being explicit. Common in interpersonal drama, political speech, and literary analysis. The nuance is more subtle than ほのめかす compared to 暗示する.

例文

1. 彼女は転職を考えていることを仄めかした。
2. 監督は次回作の内容を少しだけ仄めかした。
3. 辞任の可能性を仄めかす発言があった。

使い方ガイド

場面: conversation, politics, media

トーン: subtle

起源と歴史

From 仄か (honoka, faint/dim) with the causative suffix めかす. The image is of making something faintly visible rather than clearly showing it — letting meaning glow dimly through indirect words.

文化的背景

時代: Classical

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal