different between imperious vs hauteur

English

Etymology

From Latin imperi?sus (“mighty, powerful”), from imperium (“command, authority, power”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?p???i.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m?p??i.?s/
• Rhymes: -??ri?s

Adjective

imperious (not comparable)

1. Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing.
   • 1866 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth

     ...she glanced about her in an imperious, challenging sort of way, with looks and gestures that clearly were unstudied.

2. Urgent.
   • 1891 – Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

     Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth.

3. (obsolete) Imperial or regal.
   • 1899 – Stephen Crane, The Angel Child, Whilomville Stories

     She was quick, beautiful, imperious, while he was quiet, slow, and misty.

Synonyms

• (domineering): authoritarian, bossy, dictatorial, domineering, overbearing

Related terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From French hauteur.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /o??t?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t??/, /???t??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: auteur

Noun

hauteur (countable and uncountable, plural hauteurs)

1. Haughtiness or arrogance; loftiness.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing chapter XII

     “What's happened, young Herring?” I think for a moment he was about to draw himself up with hauteur and say he would prefer, if we didn't mind, not to discuss his private affairs, but when he was half-way up he caught Aunt Dahlia's eye and returned to position one.

   • 1992, Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water, Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 31

     […] as, indeed, a new subject presented itself now, "Here's our turn!" braking the Toyota and turning the wheel sharply without having had time to signal so, close behind them, an angered motorist sounded his horn, but The Senator took no heed: not out of arrogance or hauteur but, simply, because he took no heed.

French

Etymology

haut +? -eur

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /o.tœ?/
• Rhymes: -œ?
• Homophones: auteur, auteurs, hauteurs

Noun

hauteur f (plural hauteurs)

1. height, altitude

   La hauteur du Mont Everest est de 8.848 mètres.

2. arrogance
3. (geometry) height

   La hauteur d'un parallélogramme est perpendiculaire à sa base.

4. (music) pitch

Derived terms

• à hauteur de
• à la hauteur de
• être à la hauteur
• prendre de la hauteur
• saut en hauteur
• sauteur en hauteur

Related terms

• haut

Further reading

• “hauteur” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).