empirer

French

Etymology

Attested in Old French as empirier, empoirier, equivalent to en- + pire (“worse”) + -er. Compare Spanish empeorar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.pi.ʁe/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

empirer

1. (transitive, rare) to worsen

   Synonym: aggraver

   • 1996, Chrystine Brouillet, C'est pour mieux t'aimer, mon enfant, →ISBN, page 83:

     "Il ne faut pas empirer les choses"

     Let's not make things worse.

2. (intransitive) to worsen

Conjugation

Conjugation of empirer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	empirer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	empirant /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		empiré /ɑ̃.pi.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	empire /ɑ̃.piʁ/	empires /ɑ̃.piʁ/	empire /ɑ̃.piʁ/	empirons /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɔ̃/	empirez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁe/	empirent /ɑ̃.piʁ/
	imperfect	empirais /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɛ/	empirais /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɛ/	empirait /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɛ/	empirions /ɑ̃.pi.ʁjɔ̃/	empiriez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁje/	empiraient /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	empirai /ɑ̃.pi.ʁe/	empiras /ɑ̃.pi.ʁa/	empira /ɑ̃.pi.ʁa/	empirâmes /ɑ̃.pi.ʁam/	empirâtes /ɑ̃.pi.ʁat/	empirèrent /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɛʁ/
	future	empirerai /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁe/	empireras /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁa/	empirera /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁa/	empirerons /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	empirerez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁe/	empireront /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	empirerais /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁɛ/	empirerais /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁɛ/	empirerait /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁɛ/	empirerions /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	empireriez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁje/	empireraient /ɑ̃.pi.ʁə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	empire /ɑ̃.piʁ/	empires /ɑ̃.piʁ/	empire /ɑ̃.piʁ/	empirions /ɑ̃.pi.ʁjɔ̃/	empiriez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁje/	empirent /ɑ̃.piʁ/
	imperfect2	empirasse /ɑ̃.pi.ʁas/	empirasses /ɑ̃.pi.ʁas/	empirât /ɑ̃.pi.ʁa/	empirassions /ɑ̃.pi.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	empirassiez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁa.sje/	empirassent /ɑ̃.pi.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	empire /ɑ̃.piʁ/	—	empirons /ɑ̃.pi.ʁɔ̃/	empirez /ɑ̃.pi.ʁe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “empirer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• premier, réprime, réprimé

Middle French

Etymology

Attested in Old French as empirier, equivalent to en- + pire (“worse”) + -er.

Verb

empirer

1. (transitive, intransitive) to worsen

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of empirer

infinitive	simple	empirer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	empirant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		empiré
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	empire	empires	empire	empirons	empirez	empirent
	imperfect	empirois, empiroys	empirois, empiroys	empiroit, empiroyt	empirions, empiryons	empiriez, empiryez	empiroient, empiroyent
	past historic	empira	empiras	empira	empirasmes	empirastes	empirerent
	future	empirerai, empireray	empireras	empirera	empirerons	empirerez	empireront
	conditional	empirerois, empireroys	empirerois, empireroys	empireroit, empireroyt	empirerions, empireryons	empireriez, empireryez	empireroient, empireroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	empire	empires	empire	empirons	empirez	empirent
	imperfect	empirasse	empirasses	empirast	empirassions	empirassiez	empirassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	empire	—	empirons	empirez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).