impel
English
WOTD – 13 April 2008
Etymology
From Middle English impellen, borrowed from Latin impellō.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɛl/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛl
Verb
impel (third-person singular simple present impels, present participle impelling, simple past and past participle impelled)
- (transitive) To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation.
- Antonym: (to compel or drive extrinsically) propel
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […] ; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
- 1976 August 28, Michael Shernoff, “No 'Rotting Closet'”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 9, page 5:
- I feel impelled to reply to Roger Henry's letter about my article on being denied an apartment. I truly resent any insinuation that I "slunk back into that rotting old closet."
- 2016, Noam Chomsky, What Kind of Creatures Are We?, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 61:
- Concern for the common good should impel us to find ways to overcome the devilish impact of these disastrous policies […]
- (transitive) To drive forward; to propel an object, to provide an impetus for motion or action.
- Synonym: propel
Antonyms
Translations
To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation
|
To drive forward; to propel an object
|
References
- “impel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “impel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.