impress

English

Etymology

From Middle English impressen, from Latin impressus, perfect passive participle of imprimere (“to press into or upon, stick, stamp, or dig into”), from in (“in, upon”) + premere (“to press”).

Pronunciation

• (verb)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

  enPR: ĭmprĕsʹ, IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛs/

  Rhymes: -ɛs

• (noun)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

  enPR: ĭmʹprĕs, IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpɹɛs/
• Hyphenation: im‧press

Verb

impress (third-person singular simple present impresses, present participle impressing, simple past and past participle impressed)

1. (transitive) To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.

   You impressed me with your command of Urdu.

2. (intransitive) To make an impression, to be impressive.
   • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.

   Henderson impressed in his first game as captain.

3. (transitive) To produce a vivid impression of (something).

   That first view of the Eiger impressed itself on my mind.

4. (transitive) To mark or stamp (something) using pressure.

   We impressed our footprints in the wet cement.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     his heart, like an agate, with your print impressed

5. To produce (a mark, stamp, image, etc.); to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).
6. (figuratively) To fix deeply in the mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to imprint; to inculcate.
   • (Can we date this quote?) I. Watts

     Impress the motives of persuasion upon our own hearts till we feel the force of them.

7. (transitive) To compel (someone) to serve in a military force.

   The press gang used to impress people into the Navy.

8. (transitive) To seize or confiscate (property) by force.

   The liner was impressed as a troop carrier.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Evelyn

     the second five thousand pounds impressed for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners

Synonyms

• (transitive: affect strongly and often favourably): make an impression on
• (intransitive: make an impression, be impressive): cut a figure
• (produce a vivid impression of):
• (mark or stamp (something) using pressure): imprint, print, stamp
• (compel (someone) to serve in a military force):: pressgang
• (seize or confiscate (property) by force):: confiscate, impound, seize, sequester

Translations

(transitive) affect (someone) strongly and often favourably

• Armenian: տպավորել (hy) (tpavorel)
• Bulgarian: впечатлявам (vpečatljavam)
• French: impressionner (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: beeindrucken (de)
• Greek: εντυπωσιάζω (el) (entyposiázo)
• Italian: impressionare (it)

• Luxembourgish: beandrocken
• Norwegian: imponere
• Portuguese: impressionar (pt)
• Russian: производи́ть впечатле́ние impf (proizvodítʹ vpečatlénije), произвести́ впечатле́ние pf (proizvestí vpečatlénije), импонировать (ru) impf (imponirovatʹ), впечатлять (ru) impf (vpečatljatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: imponirati (sh) impf, izazivati divljenje impf
• Spanish: impresionar (es)
• Turkish: etkilemek (tr)

(intransitive) make an impression

• Armenian: տպավորել (hy) (tpavorel)
• Maori: pēpēhi

• Portuguese: impressionar (pt)
• Spanish: impresionar (es) (pronominal)

produce a vivid impression of

• Bulgarian: внушавам (bg) (vnušavam)
• Portuguese: impressionar (pt)

• Russian: впечатлять (ru) impf (vpečatljatʹ)

mark or stamp (something) using pressure

• Bulgarian: подпечатвам (bg) (podpečatvam)
• German: prägen (de)

• Maori: whakangoto
• Portuguese: imprimir (pt)

compel (someone) to serve in a military force

• Dutch: ronselen (nl)

• Norman: prêssi

seize or confiscate (property) by force

• Italian: confiscare (it), requisire (it)

• Maori: muru raupatu

Noun

impress (plural impresses)

1. The act of impressing.
2. An impression; an impressed image or copy of something.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice.

   • 1908, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, Norton 2005, p. 1330:

     We know that you were pressed for money, that you took an impress of the keys which your brother held […]

3. A stamp or seal used to make an impression.
4. An impression on the mind, imagination etc.
   • 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, p. 187:

     Such admonitions, in the English of the Authorized Version, left an indelible impress on imaginations nurtured on the Bible […]

5. Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)

6. A heraldic device; an impresa.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cussans to this entry?)

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     To describe […] emblazoned shields, / Impresses quaint.

7. The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Why such impress of shipwrights?

Translations

act of impressing

• Bulgarian: впечатляване n (vpečatljavane)

impression

• Bulgarian: впечатление (bg) n (vpečatlenie)

• Spanish: impresión (es) f

stamp or seal used to make an impression

• Bulgarian: печат (bg) m (pečat), щемпел (bg) m (štempel)

• Russian: о́ттиск (ru) m (óttisk)

something impressed

• Bulgarian: отпечатък (bg) m (otpečatǎk)

• Spanish: impresión (es) f

Derived terms

• impressed
• impression
• impressive
• impressively

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Persism, mispers, permiss, premiss, simpers