IMPOSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impose mean? 

• IMPOSE (verb)
  The verb IMPOSE has 3 senses:

1. compel to behave in a certain way

2. impose something unpleasant

3. impose and collect

  Familiarity information: IMPOSE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPOSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they impose    ... he / she / it imposes   
Past simple: imposed   
Past participle: imposed   
-ing form: imposing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Compel to behave in a certain way

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

constrain; enforce; impose

Context example:

duty constrains one to act often contrary to one's desires or inclinations

Hypernyms (to "impose" is one way to...):

compel; obligate; oblige (force somebody to do something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Impose something unpleasant

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bring down; impose; inflict; visit

Context example:

The principal visited his rage on the students

Hypernyms (to "impose" is one way to...):

communicate; intercommunicate (transmit thoughts or feelings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "impose"):

dictate; order; prescribe (issue commands or orders for)

intrude; obtrude (thrust oneself in as if by force)

clamp (impose or inflict forcefully)

give (inflict as a punishment)

foist (to force onto another)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something on somebody

Derivation:

imposition (the act of imposing something (as a tax or an embargo))

imposition (an uncalled-for burden)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Impose and collect

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

impose; levy

Context example:

levy a fine

Hypernyms (to "impose" is one way to...):

bill; charge (demand payment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "impose"):

toll (charge a fee for using)

tithe (levy a tithe on (produce or a crop))

reimpose (impose anew)

lay (impose as a duty, burden, or punishment)

mulct (impose a fine on)

tax (levy a tax on)

distrain (levy a distress on)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

imposition (the act of imposing something (as a tax or an embargo))

 Context examples 

But his polite regrets didn't impose upon her, and when she galloped away with the Count, she saw Laurie sit down by her aunt with an actual expression of relief.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I am sure he still means to impose on me if possible, and get a cousin of his own into a certain mill, which I design for somebody else.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Then, as judge, she imposed the sentence.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Raising his hand to impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

How could she have so imposed on herself?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

And was this the imposing Professor who had swelled behind the great desk in his massive study at Enmore Park?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"What a beautiful room!" I exclaimed, as I looked round; for I had never before seen any half so imposing.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I think that we are now sufficiently imposing to strike terror into a guilty breast.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And the funniest part of it is that many of the clever people, and all the would-be clever people, allow the idlers so to impose upon them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Because of the two prior convictions against him, Judge Scott imposed upon him a sentence of fifty years.

(White Fang, by Jack London)