Difference of intimate, allude to, and imply Learner's definition of INTIMATE [+ object] : to say or suggest (something) in an indirect way He intimated (to us) that we should plan to arrive early. allude to [phrasal verb] allude to (something or someone) : to speak of or mention (something or someone) in an indirect way I'm interested in hearing more about the technology you alluded to a minute ago. She alluded to her first marriage/husband Well, I don't catch any difference between 'intimate' and 'allude' from the examples. Do they mean the almost same, and are 'intimate' and 'allude' interchangeable in the above examples? Plus, are they also interchangeable with imply?