impel
English
WOTD – 13 April 2008
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɛl/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛl
Verb
impel (third-person singular simple present impels, present participle impelling, simple past and past participle impelled)
- (transitive) To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation.
- Antonym: propel (to compel or drive extrinsically)
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
- (transitive) To drive forward; to propel an object.
- Synonym: propel
Antonyms
Translations
To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation
To drive forward; to propel an object
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References
- impel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- impel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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