Impression Meaning
/ɪmˈpɹɛʃn̩/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe indentation or depression made by the pressure of one object on or into another.
nounThe overall effect of something, e.g., on a person.
Sentence Examples
I didn't mean to give you that impression.
Mr. Satoyama's work made a big impression in the world of haiku.
My first impression of him was favourable.
CEFR Practice Quiz
At the job interview, her confident attitude left a strong ____ on the hiring manager.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His first ____ of the city was that it was much louder and more crowded than he had expected.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *per-? Proto-Indo-European *pres-der. Proto-Italic *pres- Latin premō Latin imprimō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin impressiōder. Old French impressionder. English impression From Old French impression, from Latin impressio. Equivalent to impress + -ion.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Their empires, triumphs, conquests, and projects, have left little impression behind them, notwithstanding the attention they once attracted, and the violent convulsions which they caused in the state of the world."
— 1805, Henry Kett, “Conclusion”, in Elements of General Knowledge, Introductory to Useful Books in the Principal Branches of Literature and Science. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: […] [T]he Press of H. Maxwell, for F. Nichols, […], and J. A. Cummings, […], pages 387–388:
"The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone."
— 2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page x:
"Publishers are paid for each ad impression their site generates."
— 2010, Dusty Reagan, Twitter Application Development For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 329:
"Let us, therefore, use a little freedom, and call them Impressions; employing that word in a sense somewhat different from the usual. By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned."
— 1748, David Hume, “Of the Origin of Ideas”, in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
At the job interview, her confident attitude left a strong ____ on the hiring manager.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His first ____ of the city was that it was much louder and more crowded than he had expected.