Word.ws English Dictionary

impetuous

/imˈpɛt͡ʃuəs/

impetuous adjective: making arbitrary decisions, especially in an impulsive and forceful manner.

Adjective

impetuous (comparative more impetuous, superlative most impetuous)

  1. Making arbitrary decisions, especially in an impulsive and forceful manner.
    • But it was natural, that the impetuous, restless young artist should incline more to excess of strength than of delicacy in his playing.1880, John Weeks Moore, “Beethoven, Louis Van”, in Complete Encyclopaedia of Music
    • The shrewd kind confidant used gently to hint the sad fact to the impetuous hero of this piece. The impetuous hero knew this quite well.1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC
  2. Characterized by sudden violence or vehemence.
    • For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311
    • […]and the Thunder, / Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, / Perhaps hath ſpent his ſhafts […]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC

impetuous meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam

impetuous in Urdu

جلد باز, جوشیلا, سخت, شدید

impetuous in Bengali

হঠকারী

impetuous in Telugu

impetuous, haughty
రాజసము rājasamu

impetuous in Malayalam

ദ്രുതക്രമ, കരുതലില്ലാത്ത, ചണ്ഡം, തീഷ്ണം
More languagesFewer languages
impetuous in Kannada
ದುಡುಕುವ, ಉರವಣೆಯ, ಆತುರದಿಂದ ವರ್ತಿಸುವ, ದುಡುಕಿನ
impetuous in Sanskrit
अमवत् amavat
impetuous in Tagalog
mapusok

Examples of impetuous in a sentence

  • The prime minister thought he could sagely steer his impetuous American friends away from actions they would later regret.2003 March 16, Terry Jones, “Poor Tony Blair wakes up”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
  • Her pale face and impetuous manner made him start […]1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […]...
  • When they were placed in position they thought it was time to begin,—and then did begin, too, and with a most impetuous energy, without waiting for anybody to give the word.1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter VI, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing...
  • Having made a few vain attempts at engrossing my attention in my book, I was obliged to let myself be carried away by the impetuous torrent of the squire's eloquence.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250:

Synonyms of impetuous

All synonyms of impetuous

Forms of impetuous

comparativemore impetuous
superlativemost impetuous

Origin of impetuous

From Middle English impetuous, from Old French impetueux, from Late Latin impetuōsus (“violent”), from Latin impetus (“attack, violence”).

Words formed from impetuous

Questions about impetuous

What does impetuous mean?
Impetuous means making arbitrary decisions, especially in an impulsive and forceful manner.
What is impetuous in Urdu?
Impetuous in Urdu is جلد باز, جوشیلا, سخت. See Impetuous meaning in Urdu.
How do you use impetuous in a sentence?
The prime minister thought he could sagely steer his impetuous American friends away from actions they would later regret.
What part of speech is impetuous?
Impetuous is an adjective.
How do you pronounce impetuous?
Impetuous is pronounced /imˈpɛt͡ʃuəs/.

Words near impetuous in the dictionary

  1. impetrator
  2. impetrators
  3. impetratory
  4. impetuosities
  5. impetuosity
  6. impetuous
  7. impetuously
  8. impetuousness
  9. impetus
  10. impetuses
  11. impex

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: impetuous (page history and authors); impetuous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); impetuous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); రాజసము (Telugu) (page history and authors); impetuous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); impetuous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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