Wiktionary

imperative

See also: impérative

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin imperātīvus.

PronunciationEdit

  • (US) IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.tɪv/
    • Audio (UK)
      		(file)

AdjectiveEdit

imperative (comparative more imperative, superlative most imperative)

  1. Essential; crucial; extremely important.
    It is imperative that you come here right now.
    • 2019, Con Man Games; SmashGames, quoting Felix, Kindergarten 2, SmashGames:
      Give this document to Ozzy. It's imperative that he reads and understands it. Got it?
  2. (grammar) Of, or relating to the imperative mood.
  3. (computing theory) Having a semantics that incorporates mutable variables.
  4. Expressing a command; authoritatively or absolutely directive.
    imperative orders
    • (Can we date this quote by Bishop Hall and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      The suits of kings are imperative.

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

imperative (countable and uncountable, plural imperatives)

  1. (uncountable, grammar) The grammatical mood expressing an order (see jussive). In English, the imperative form of a verb is the same as that of the bare infinitive.
    The verbs in sentences like "Do it!" and "Say what you like!" are in the imperative.
  2. (countable, grammar) A verb in imperative mood.
  3. (countable) An essential action, a must: something which is imperative.
    Visiting Berlin is an imperative.
    • 2014 March 1, Rupert Christiansen, “English translations rarely sing”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R19:
      Anything grandiose or historically based tends to sound flat and banal when it reaches English, partly because translators get stuck between contradictory imperatives: juggling fidelity to the original sense with what is vocally viable, they tend to resort to a genteel fustian which lacks either poetic resonance or demotic realism, adding to a sense of artificiality rather than enhancing credibility.

SynonymsEdit

Coordinate termsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

imperative mood — see imperative mood

ItalianEdit

AdjectiveEdit

imperative f pl

  1. Feminine plural of adjective imperativo.

AnagramsEdit

LatinEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From imperātīvus (“commanded”), from imperō (“command, order”), from im- (form of in) + parō (“prepare, arrange; intend”).

AdverbEdit

imperātīvē (not comparable)

  1. In an imperative manner, imperatively.

Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

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