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''imperious'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250716210434-00-⌔

imperious - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

imperious (not comparable)

  • Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing.
    • ✤ Synonyms: authoritarian, bossy, dictatorial, domineering, overbearing
    • ✤ The frowning lookes of fiery Tamburlaine,
      That with his terrour and imperious eies,
      Commands the hearts of his aſſociates, […]      1
    • ✤ […] she glanced about her in an imperious, challenging sort of way, with looks and gestures that clearly were unstudied.2
    • ✤ She was quick, beautiful, imperious, while he was quiet, slow, and misty.3
    • ✤ I had travelled one morning down to Aylesbury, and had left my train, and was about to cross the footbridge, when I heard the imperious whistle of a “B1.” I paused, and round the bend came the “Master Cutler” with its engine working absolutely flat out.4
    • ✤ “Hey, sir? Sir, excuse me?” The blonde was calling out to him, in imperious tones that insisted on a reply.5
    • ✤ Saliba, meanwhile, has returned to Arsenal looking like the finished article after the 21-year-old France defender spent loan spells at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille. He has been imperious since the opening game at Brentford, establishing a formidable partnership with Gabriel.6
    • ✤ Back in France, once the fourth republic yielded to the fifth, Gaullist rule proved imperious and sometimes blinkered – but effective.7
  • Urgent; intensely compelling.
    • ✤ Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth.8
    • ✤ An old man to whom a few drops of phosphoric ether had been administered experienced repeated and imperious venereal wants.9
  • (obsolete) Imperial or regal.
    • ✤ All the terrors of Antichrist; his cruel ediets and anathemas that were thundered from his imperious throne, like storms of fire and brimstone […]10

Etymology

From Latin imperiōsus (“mighty, powerful”), from imperium (“command, authority, power”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɪmˈpɪə̯.ɹi.əs/
  • (US) IPA: /ɪmˈpɪɹ.i.əs/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Audio (Australian): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɪəɹiəs

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene i: ↩

  2. 1866, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by C. J. Hogarth, The Gambler: ↩

  3. 1899, Stephen Crane, The Angel Child, Whilomville Stories: ↩

  4. 1955 April, W. J. Alcock, “Unforgettable Moments”, in Railway Magazine, page 271: ↩

  5. 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4: ↩

  6. 2022 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham: Gunners show identity & direction in outstanding derby win”, in BBC Sport ‎: ↩

  7. 2026 June 22, Tom Clark, “The ungovernable country? Why Britain keeps losing prime ministers”, in The Guardian ‎, →ISSN: ↩

  8. 1891, Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: ↩

  9. 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 202: ↩

  10. 1789, Ephraim Judson, Ambassadors appointed by Christ to treat with mankind on the subject of reconciliation to God, page 7: ↩

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