different between impose vs impress

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French imposer (“to lay on, impose”), taking the place of Latin imponere (“to lay on, impose”), from in (“on, upon”) + ponere (“to put, place”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?po?z/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?p??z/
• Rhymes: -??z

Verb

impose (third-person singular simple present imposes, present participle imposing, simple past and past participle imposed)

1. (transitive) To establish or apply by authority.

   Congress imposed new tariffs.

   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[2]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.

2. (intransitive) to be an inconvenience (on or upon)

   I don't wish to impose upon you.

3. to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way

   Social relations impose courtesy
4. To practice a trick or deception (on or upon).
5. To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.
6. To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms, etc.

Derived terms

• imposure
• superimpose

Related terms

• imposition

Translations

Further reading

• impose in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• impose in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• impose at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mopies, pomeis

French

Verb

impose

1. first-person singular present indicative of imposer
2. third-person singular present indicative of imposer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of imposer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of imposer
5. second-person singular imperative of imposer

Italian

Verb

impose

1. third-person singular past historic of imporre

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: ?mpr?s?, IPA^(key): /?m?p??s/

  Rhymes: -?s

• (noun) enPR: ?m?pr?s, IPA^(key): /??mp??s/
• Hyphenation: im?press

Verb

impress (third-person singular simple present impresses, present participle impressing, simple past and past participle impressed)

1. (transitive) To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.

2. (intransitive) To make an impression, to be impressive.

3. (transitive) To produce a vivid impression of (something).

4. (transitive) To mark or stamp (something) using pressure.
5. To produce (a mark, stamp, image, etc.); to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).
6. (figuratively) To fix deeply in the mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to imprint; to inculcate.

   • impress the motives and methods of persuasion upon our own hearts, till we feel the force and power of them.

7. (transitive) To compel (someone) to serve in a military force.

8. (transitive) To seize or confiscate (property) by force.

   • the second £5,000 imprest 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

Noun

impress (plural impresses)

1. The act of impressing.
2. An impression; an impressed image or copy of something.
   • 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 […]

3. A stamp or seal used to make an impression.
4. 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 […]

5. Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp.

   • we have God surveying the works of the creation, and leaving this general impress or character upon them

6. A heraldic device; an impresa.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cussans to this entry?)
7. The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed.

Translations

Derived terms

• impressed
• impression
• impressive
• impressively

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

Anagrams

• Persism, mispers, permiss, premiss, simpers