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

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpoʊz/
• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpəʊz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊz

Verb

1. (transitive) To establish or apply by authority.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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 pʻatʻatʻel) (informal)
• Bulgarian: налагам (bg) (nalagam)
• Catalan: imposar (ca)
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• Occitan: impausar (oc)
• 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 (fr)
• German: auferlegen
• Japanese: 課す (ja) (かす, kasu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

• “impose”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “impose”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “impose”, in 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