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)
enPR: ĭmprĕsʹ, IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛs/Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛs
- (noun)
enPR: ĭmʹprĕs, IPA(key): /ˈɪmpɹɛs/Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: im‧press
Verb
impress (third-person singular simple present impresses, present participle impressing, simple past and past participle impressed)
- (transitive) To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess:
- 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.
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- (intransitive) To make an impression, to be impressive.
- 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:
- 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.
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- (transitive) To produce a vivid impression of (something).
- That first view of the Eiger impressed itself on my mind.
- (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
- To produce (a mark, stamp, image, etc.); to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).
- (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.
- (Can we date this quote?) I. Watts
- (transitive) To compel (someone) to serve in a military force.
- The press gang used to impress people into the Navy.
- (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
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(intransitive) make an impression
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produce a vivid impression of
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mark or stamp (something) using pressure
seize or confiscate (property) by force
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Noun
impress (plural impresses)
- The act of impressing.
- 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 […]
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- A stamp or seal used to make an impression.
- 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 […]
- 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, p. 187:
- Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)
- 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.
- 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?
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
Translations
act of impressing
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impression
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stamp or seal used to make an impression
Derived terms
Further reading
- impress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- impress in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- impress at OneLook Dictionary Search
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