imposer

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English impose

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English imposer

From impose + -er.

Noun

imposer (plural imposers)

1. One who imposes.

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “imposer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “imposer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• porimes, promise, semipro

French

Etymology

From Latin imponere; by surface analysis im- +‎ poser. Cf. the Old French form emposer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.po.ze/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

imposer

1. to impose
2. to tax (a person, a product), or to impose (a tax)

   Le régime s'est fait très impopulaire en imposant le vin.

   The regime made itself very unpopular by taxing wine.

3. (reflexive) to triumph, to win

   Il s'est imposé vendredi devant Beat Feuz.

   On Friday he triumphed over Beat Feuz.

4. (reflexive) to establish oneself, to make a name for oneself
5. (reflexive) to be required, to be called for

   Quelques précisions s'imposent.

   Some clarifications are called for.

   • 1903, Maurice Pillard Verneuil, Étude de la plante‎^[1], page 2:

     Dès lors, un retour à la nature s'impose, et l'étude raisonnée de celle-ci devient indispensable.

     Consequently, a return to nature is called for, and a reasoned study of it becomes indispensable.

Conjugation

Conjugation of imposer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	imposer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	imposant /ɛ̃.po.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		imposé /ɛ̃.po.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	impose /ɛ̃.poz/	imposes /ɛ̃.poz/	impose /ɛ̃.poz/	imposons /ɛ̃.po.zɔ̃/	imposez /ɛ̃.po.ze/	imposent /ɛ̃.poz/
	imperfect	imposais /ɛ̃.po.zɛ/	imposais /ɛ̃.po.zɛ/	imposait /ɛ̃.po.zɛ/	imposions /ɛ̃.po.zjɔ̃/	imposiez /ɛ̃.po.zje/	imposaient /ɛ̃.po.zɛ/
	past historic2	imposai /ɛ̃.po.ze/	imposas /ɛ̃.po.za/	imposa /ɛ̃.po.za/	imposâmes /ɛ̃.po.zam/	imposâtes /ɛ̃.po.zat/	imposèrent /ɛ̃.po.zɛʁ/
	future	imposerai /ɛ̃.poz.ʁe/	imposeras /ɛ̃.poz.ʁa/	imposera /ɛ̃.poz.ʁa/	imposerons /ɛ̃.poz.ʁɔ̃/	imposerez /ɛ̃.poz.ʁe/	imposeront /ɛ̃.poz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	imposerais /ɛ̃.poz.ʁɛ/	imposerais /ɛ̃.poz.ʁɛ/	imposerait /ɛ̃.poz.ʁɛ/	imposerions /ɛ̃.po.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	imposeriez /ɛ̃.po.zə.ʁje/	imposeraient /ɛ̃.poz.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	impose /ɛ̃.poz/	imposes /ɛ̃.poz/	impose /ɛ̃.poz/	imposions /ɛ̃.po.zjɔ̃/	imposiez /ɛ̃.po.zje/	imposent /ɛ̃.poz/
	imperfect2	imposasse /ɛ̃.po.zas/	imposasses /ɛ̃.po.zas/	imposât /ɛ̃.po.za/	imposassions /ɛ̃.po.za.sjɔ̃/	imposassiez /ɛ̃.po.za.sje/	imposassent /ɛ̃.po.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	impose /ɛ̃.poz/	—	imposons /ɛ̃.po.zɔ̃/	imposez /ɛ̃.po.ze/	—
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).

Derived terms

• en imposer
• imposable
• imposant
• impôt

Related terms

• imposition

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• promise