peremptory

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In large part by making use of a jury selection practice known as the peremptory challenge.

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Putting an end to all debate or action: a peremptory decree.
  2. adjective Not allowing contradiction or refusal; imperative: The officer issued peremptory commands.
  3. adjective Having the nature of or expressing a command; urgent: The teacher spoke in a peremptory tone.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • In large part by making use of a jury selection practice known as the peremptory challenge. —  The Situationist
  • The parliament of Tours was equally peremptory, and feared the judgments of an offended God if all these dealers with the devil were not swept from the face of the land. —  Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
  • Your reasoning appeared to me to be too peremptory, that is all In what way, if you please, I am curious to know It would take too long to tell you. —  The Waif of the "Cynthia"
  • The voice was sharp and peremptory--too peremptory, one might have thought, for democracy addressing a brother. —  The Testing of Diana Mallory
  • Clear and peremptory, the first words which had passed her lips since the surprise had come to them, seemed somehow to introduce a new note into an atmosphere from which an element of tragedy had never been lacking Please stop He turned and faced her with obvious unwillingness. —  The Avenger
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

curt ·  imperious ·  brusque ·  urgent ·  emphatic ·  authoritative ·  dictatorial ·  abrupt ·  imperative ·  explicit ·  harsh ·  scornful
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin peremptōrius, from peremptus, past participle of perimere, to take away : per-, per- + emere, to obtain; see em- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from French péremptoire = Spanish perentorio =Portuguese peremptorio =Italian perentorio, from Late Latin peremptorius, peremtorius, destructive, decisive, from peremptor, a destroyer, from Latin perimere, past participle peremptus, destroy: see perempt.
  2. from peremptory, a.
 

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/ˈpɛrɛmptəri/
by American Heritage

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