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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Putting an end to all debate or action: a peremptory decree.
  2. adj. Not allowing contradiction or refusal; imperative: The officer issued peremptory commands.
  3. adj. Having the nature of or expressing a command; urgent: The teacher spoke in a peremptory tone.
  4. adj. Offensively self-assured; dictatorial: a swaggering, peremptory manner.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. That precludes or does not admit of debate, question, or expostulation; hence, express; authoritative; positive; absolute: as, a, peremptory command or call.
  2. In law, final; determinate; absolute and unconditional: as, a peremptory action or exception.
  3. Fully resolved; resolute; determined; positive in opinion or judgment; dogmatic: said of persons.
  4. Positively settled upon; that positively must be done, etc.
  5. Synonyms and Authoritative, Dogmatic, etc. See magisterial.
  6. Express, absolute, imperative, categorical.
  7. n. A peremptory order.
  8. Unquestionably; positively.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Precluding debate or expostulation; not admitting of question or appeal; positive; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final.
  2. adj. Positive in opinion or judgment; decided; dictatorial; dogmatical.
  3. adj. Poetic Firmly determined; unawed.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. not allowing contradiction or refusal
  2. adj. putting an end to all debate or action
  3. adj. offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power

Etymologies

  1. From Anglo-Norman peremptorie, parentorie et al. (Modern French péremptoire), and its source, Latin peremptōrius ("deadly; decisive"), from perimō. (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin peremptōrius, from peremptus, past participle of perimere, to take away : per-, per- + emere, to obtain; see em- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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  • RevBrently From p. 15 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: "Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart." Sep 29, 2012

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‘peremptory’ has been looked up 4032 times, loved by 15 people, added to 114 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 19.