Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Expressing a command or plea; peremptory: requests that grew more and more imperative.
- adj. Having the power or authority to command or control.
- adj. Grammar Of, relating to, or constituting the mood that expresses a command or request.
- adj. Impossible to deter or evade; pressing: imperative needs. See Synonyms at urgent.
- n. A command; an order.
- n. An obligation; a duty: social imperatives.
- n. A rule, principle, or instinct that compels a certain behavior: a people driven to aggression by territorial imperatives.
- n. Grammar The imperative mood.
- n. Grammar A verb form of imperative mood.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Expressing command; containing positive command; peremptory; absolute: as, imperative orders.
- Not to be avoided or evaded; that must be attended to or performed; obligatory; binding: as, an imperative duty or necessity.
- n. In grammar, a mode or verbal form which expresses command, entreaty, advice, or exhortation.
- n. In philosophy, a deliverance of conscience; a monition of the moral sense.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable, grammar The grammatical mood expressing an order (see jussive). In English, the imperative form of verb is the same as that of the bare infinitive.
- n. countable, grammar A verb in imperative mood.
- n. countable An essential action, a must: something which is imperative.
- adj. essential
- adj. computing theory Having a semantics that incorporates mutable variables.
- adj. grammar of, or relating to the imperative mood
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Expressive of command; containing positive command; authoritatively or absolutely directive; commanding; authoritative.
- adj. Not to be avoided or evaded; obligatory; binding; compulsory.
- adj. (Gram.) Expressive of commund, entreaty, advice, or exhortation.
- n. (Gram.) The imperative mood; also, a verb in the imperative mood.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to verbs in the imperative mood
- n. some duty that is essential and urgent
- n. a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior
- adj. requiring attention or action
Etymologies
- From Latin imperātīvus. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English imperatif, relating to the imperative mood, from Old French, from Late Latin imperātīvus, from Latin imperātus, past participle of imperāre, to command; see emperor. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In traditional tragedy, these are prescriptives; the imperative is absolute -- must, not should.”
“The long-term imperative is to slow and reverse the spiraling national debt.”
The Huffington Post: Richard Klass: The Real State of the Union
“The short-term imperative is to create jobs and grow the economy.”
The Huffington Post: Richard Klass: The Real State of the Union
“We have a long-term imperative to reconnect middle-class prosperity to the growing economy.”
USA Today: Wis. town reflects challenge for middle-class rebound
“If that seems a fast-fading dream, the pressing imperative is whether to keep faith with a man warmly serenaded by Leeds supporters but barracked by his new public.”
The Guardian: Gordon Strachan running out of time to revive Middlesbrough's fortunes
“If you are Christian, your moral imperative is to be Good in the face of Evil, to the point of martyrdom if need be.”
“If you are Christian, your moral imperative is to be Good in the face of Evil, to the point of martyrdom if need be.”
“While relieving government debt should be a medium and long term priority, addressing consumer debt is a short-term imperative.”
The Huffington Post: Rep. Hansen Clarke: Congress Is Obsessed With the Wrong Kind of Debt
“Their immediate imperative is coexistence within the fleet, but their interest is in victory over the hostile Cylon.”
“That ultimately this very moral imperative taken as absolute requires that we should treat all other moral imperatives as relative until, by a process of honest inquiry, we can decide, to our honest satisfaction, that, to the best of our knowledge, the action predicated by this imperative is indeed essentially capable of being universalised.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘imperative’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
abusive, adamant, autocratic, bossy, bullheaded, bumptious, certain, cock-a-hoop, cocksure, cocky, commanding, compelling and 189 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Wk 21
apprehension, desideratum, egregious, rendered, prerogative, anachronistic, gainsay, censure, jargon, masquerade, imperative
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Programming Jargon
Stuff that comes up all the time at work.
continuation, data structure, node, closure, compiler, funarg problem, garbage collection, pointer, anonymous function, block, currying, first-class function and 63 more...
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Shadowkeir's list
This list, the one shown below this very message, is a collection of words that you cannot begin to fathom how much I adore. The list will also feature atithesis and contrasting words such as the t...
wishful, anticlimactic, forte, monchromatic, septic, wonderous, isoclinal, deformed, disintergrate, favourite, laughable, awe-inspiring and 250 more...
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Latin Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
inane, ambivalent, incriminate, interrupt, amicable, meticulous, animosity, curriculum, electoral, transect, condolences, bugle and 132 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, I
irenic, inimical, ignotism, infrangible, internecine, illumine, ingot, imposter, iconoclast, indefeasible, indefatigable, impingement and 184 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Is it morning yet?
coterie, lexeme, counterbalance, forthright, pigtail, ponytail, french-braid, barrette, listless, counsel, sitting duck, dead duck and 268 more...
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Barron's 1100 words you need to know ...
abhor, absurd, anthropologist, artifact, bigot, bizarre, contemptuous, entreaty, fetish, imperative, imprudent, inanimate and 8 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for imperative.
pradyumnaojha To maintain a very good health, it is imperative to avoid smoking and drinking. Feb 15, 2013