Adjacent Words

Imperious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IMPE'RIOUS, a. [L. imperiosus.]
1. Commanding; dictatorial; haughty; arrogant; overbearing; domineering; as an imperious tyrant; an imperious dictator; an imperious man; an imperious temper.
2. Commanding; indicating an imperious temper; authoritative; as imperious words.
3. Powerful; overbearing; not to be opposed by obstacles; as a man of a vast and imperious mind.
4. Commanding; urgent; pressing; as imperious love; imperious circumstances; imperious appetite.
5. Authoritative; commanding with rightful authority.
The commandment high and imperious in its claims.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy; "some economists are disdainful of their colleagues in other social disciplines"; "haughty aristocrats"; "his lordly manners were offensive"; "walked with a prideful swagger"; "very sniffy about breaches of etiquette"; "his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air"; "a more swaggering mood than usual"- W.L.Shirer [syn: disdainful, haughty, imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful, sniffy, supercilious, swaggering]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin imperiosus, from imperium Date: 1540 1. a. befitting or characteristic of one of eminent rank or attainments ; commanding, dominant <an imperious manner> b. marked by arrogant assurance ; domineering 2. intensely compelling ; urgent <the imperious problems of the new age — J. F. Kennedy> Synonyms: see masterful • imperiously adverb • imperiousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 overbearing, domineering. 2 urgent, imperative. Derivatives: imperiously adv. imperiousness n. Etymology: L imperiosus f. imperium command, authority

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Imperious Im*pe"ri*ous, a. [L. imperiosus: cf. F. imp['e]rieux. See Imperial.] 1. Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [Obs.] ``A vast and imperious mind.'' --Tilloison. Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness, Imperious. --Shak. 2. Haughly; arrogant; overbearing; as, an imperious tyrant; an imperious manner. This imperious man will work us all From princes into pages. --Shak. His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon made him conspicuous. --Macaulay. 3. Imperative; urgent; compelling. Imperious need, which can not be withstood. --Dryden. Syn: Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly; tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative; authoritative; commanding; pressing. Usage: Imperious, Lordly, Domineering. One who is imperious exercises his authority in a manner highly offensive for its spirit and tone; one who is lordly assumes a lofty air in order to display his importance; one who is domineering gives orders in a way to make other feel their inferiority.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone as imperious, you mean that they have a proud manner and expect to be obeyed. (WRITTEN) Her attitude is imperious at times... = haughty ADJ • imperiously Imperiously she beckoned me out of the room. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Dictatorial, magisterial, domineering, tyrannical, despotic, overbearing, lordly, haughty, arrogant.

Foolish Dictionary

From Eng. imp, devil and aerial, airy. Airy as the devil.

Moby Thesaurus

U, absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, acute, arbitrary, aristocratic, arrogant, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, binding, bossy, clamorous, coactive, compelling, compulsatory, compulsive, compulsory, constraining, critical, crucial, crying, de rigueur, despotic, dictatorial, domineering, driving, dynastic, elitist, exigent, feudal, grinding, heavy-handed, high and mighty, high-handed, high-pressure, high-priority, hubristic, imperative, imperatorial, imperatorious, imperial, insistent, instant, irresistible, kinglike, kingly, lordly, magisterial, magistral, majestic, mandatory, masterful, monarchal, monarchial, monarchic, monocratic, must, necessary, obligatory, oppressive, overbearing, overruling, peremptory, pivotal, pressing, princelike, princely, purple, queenlike, queenly, regal, repressive, required, restraining, royal, severe, sovereign, strict, stringent, suppressive, tyrannical, tyrannous, urgent