different between impend vs impede

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin impendere (“to hang over, to weigh out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?p?nd/
• Rhymes: -?nd

Verb

impend (third-person singular simple present impends, present participle impending, simple past and past participle impended)

1. (obsolete) To hang or be suspended over (something); to overhang.
   • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt 2008, p. 210:

     The Earl had often heard of a rich citizen […] and the peculiar charm of a little snug rotunda which he had just finished on the verge of his ground, and which impended the great London road.

   • When a thing really impends over another, e.g. when one stands at a fountain (????????), over which one really leans.

2. (intransitive) Figuratively to hang over (someone) as a threat or danger.
3. (intransitive) To threaten to happen; to be about to happen, to be imminent.
4. (obsolete) To pay.

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

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Mendip

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin impedi? (“to shackle”), from p?s (“foot”) (compare pedestrian). First attested use as a verb was in William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?pi?d/
• Rhymes: -i?d

Verb

impede (third-person singular simple present impedes, present participle impeding, simple past and past participle impeded)

1. (transitive) To get in the way of; to hinder.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hinder

Antonyms

• assist, help
• expede (obsolete)
• expedite

Related terms

• expede, expedite
• impediment

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “impede”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• impeed

Portuguese

Verb

impede

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of impedir
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of impedir