impose

See also: imposé

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French imposer (“to lay on, impose”), taking the place of Latin imponere (“to lay on, impose”), from in (“on, upon”) + ponere (“to put place”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpoʊz/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpəʊz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊz

Verb

impose (third-person singular simple present imposes, present participle imposing, simple past and past participle imposed)

1. (transitive) To establish or apply by authority.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Death is the penalty imposed.

   Congress imposed new tariffs.

   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[1]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.

2. (intransitive) to be an inconvenience (on or upon)

   I don't wish to impose upon you.

3. to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way

   Social relations impose courtesy

   • 2011 December 10, Arindam Rej, “Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     Norwich soon began imposing themselves on that patched-up defence with Holt having their best early chance, only to see it blocked by Simpson.

4. To practice a trick or deception (on or upon).
5. To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.
6. To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms, etc.

Derived terms

• imposure
• superimpose

Related terms

• imposition

Translations

to establish or apply by authority

• Armenian: պարտադրել (hy) (partadrel), վզին փաթաթել (vzin pʿatʿatʿel) (informal)
• Bulgarian: налагам (bg) (nalagam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 强加 (zh)

• Dutch: opleggen (nl)
• Esperanto: imponi
• Finnish: määrätä (fi), säätää (fi)
• French: imposer (fr)
• German: auferlegen, aufzwingen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi)

• Ido: aplikar (io)
• Italian: imporre (it)
• Japanese: 強要する (きょうようする, kyōyō-suru), 強いる (ja) (しいる, shiiru)

• Latin: impōnō
• Maori: uruhi, whakaeke
• Persian: برنهادن‎ (barnehâdan)
• Portuguese: impor (pt)
• Romanian: impune (ro)
• Russian: облага́ть (ru) (oblagátʹ), налага́ть (ru) (nalagátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: наметнути

  Roman: nametnuti (sh)

• Spanish: imponer (es)
• Telugu: విధించు (te) (vidhiñcu)

to be an inconvenience

• Bulgarian: натрапвам се (natrapvam se)
• Finnish: olla rasituksena
• French: s'imposer
• German: auferlegen
• Japanese: 課す (ja) (かす, kasu)

• Maori: māminga
• Portuguese: abusar (pt)
• Romanian: a se impune (ro), dicta (ro)
• Russian: навязыва́ться (ru) impf (navjazyvátʹsja) (intransitive), навяза́ться (ru) pf (navjazátʹsja) (intransitive)
• Swedish: vara till besvär

to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way

• Maori: uruhi

Further reading

• impose in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• impose in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• impose at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mopies, pomeis

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French

Verb

impose

1. first-person singular present indicative of imposer
2. third-person singular present indicative of imposer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of imposer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of imposer
5. second-person singular imperative of imposer

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Italian

Verb

impose

1. third-person singular past historic of imporre