intimation

[in-tuh-mey-shuhn] Origin

noun

the act of intimating, or making known indirectly.

a hint; suggestion: The death of his father was his first intimation of mortality.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

intimation (ˌɪntɪˈmeɪʃən)

—n
1.	a hint or suggestion
2.	rare an announcement or notice

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

intimation

"action of making known," mid-15c., from M.Fr. intimation (late 14c.), from L.L. intimationem (nom. intimatio) "an announcement" (in M.L. "a judicial notification"), from intimare (see intimate).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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"To suppose that "I know" is a descriptive phrase, is only one example of the descriptive fallacy, so common in philosophy. Even if some language is now purely descriptive, language was not in origin so, and much of it is still not so. utterance of obvious ritual phrases, in the appropriate circumstances, is not describing the action we are doing, but doing it ("I do"): in other cases it functions, like tone and expression, or again like punctuation and mood, as an intimation that we are employing language in a special way ("I warn," "I ask," "I define"). Such phrases cannot, strictly, be lies, though they can "imply" lies, as "I promise" implies that I fully intend, which may be true."

-John Austin

intimation

in·ti·ma·tion