impose

CEFRC1

/ɪmˈpəʊz/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To force a rule, burden, or duty on someone.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To physically lay or place (something) on another thing; to deposit, to put, to set.

Examples

  • Sorry to impose, but would you please open the window?

  • The courts were empowered to impose the death sentence for certain crimes.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ɪmˈpoʊz/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To lay or place (one's hands) on someone as a blessing, during rites of confirmation, ordination, etc.

  2. To lay (columns or pages of type, or printing plates) arranged in a proper order on the bed of a press or an imposing stone and secure them in a chase in preparation for printing.

  3. To apply, enforce, or establish (something, often regarded as burdensome as a restriction or tax: see verb sense 1.2.2) with authority.

More examples

In context

  • The U.S. government is to impose two of the sanctions against those countries.

  • Sanctions were imposed on the country that had made an unprovoked attack on its neighbour.

  • Congress imposed new tariffs.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The government decided to blank new taxes on luxury items to raise additional revenue.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

The verb is derived from Late Middle English imposen (“to place, set; to impose (a duty, etc.)”), borrowed from Middle French imposer, and Old French emposer, enposer (“to impose (a duty, tax, etc.)”) (modern French imposer), from im-, em- (variants of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + poser (“to place, put”), modelled after: * Latin impōnere (“to place or set (something) on; (figurative) to impose (a duty, tax, etc.)”), from im- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘on, upon’)) + pōnō (“to place, put; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂pó, *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *tḱey- (“to cultivate; to live; to settle”)); and * Latin impositus (“established; put upon, imposed”), the perfect passi...