Word.ws English Dictionary

impulsive

/ɪmˈpʌlsɪv/

impulsive adjective: having the power of driving or impelling; giving an impulse; moving; impellent.

Adjective

impulsive (comparative more impulsive, superlative most impulsive)

  1. Having the power of driving or impelling; giving an impulse; moving; impellent.
    • Poor men! poor papers! We and they / Do some impulsive force obey.1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC
  2. Actuated by impulse or by transient feelings; inclined to make rapid decisions without due consideration.
    • my heart, impulsive and wayward1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II)
    • Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of.2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review, number 152, →ISSN
  3. Of a force, acting momentarily, or by impulse; not continuous.

Noun

impulsive (plural impulsives)

  1. That which impels or gives an impulse; an impelling agent.
    • Notwithstanding all which Motives and impulsives , Sir Thomas Overbury refused to be sent abroad , with such terms1613, Henry Wotton, letter to Edmund Bacon
  2. One whose behaviour or personality is characterized by being impulsive.

impulsive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

impulsive in Hindi

आवेगपूर्ण, आवेगशील, आवेगजनक

impulsive in Tamil

உந்து

impulsive in Marathi

आवेगपूर्ण, आवेगशील, आवेगयुक्त

impulsive in Urdu

impulsive
اضطراری iztirārī
More languagesFewer languages
impulsive in Bengali
আবেগপ্রবণ, হঠকারী
impulsive in Malayalam
ഉത്സാഹിക്കുന്ന, പ്രചോദകമായ, തോന്നിയവാസമുള്ള, ആവേഗശീലമായ
impulsive in Kannada
ಆವೇಗಯುಕ್ತ, ದುಡುಂ ಪ್ರವೇಶದ, ಹಿಂದುಮುಂದು ನೋಡದೆ ನುಗ್ಗುವ, ಯೋಚಿಸದೆ ನಡೆದುಕೊಂಡ
impulsive in Punjabi
ਆਵੇਗਪੂਰਨ, ਆਵੇਗਸ਼ੀਲ
impulsive in Gujarati
આવેગશીલ, આવેગપૂર્ણ, આવેગજનક
impulsive in Nepali
आवेगपूर्ण, आवेगशील, आवेगात्मक
impulsive in Thai
หุนหัน

Examples of impulsive in a sentence

  • While being impulsive can be great for artists, it is not a desirable quality for engineers.
  • My initial, impulsive (and very Yodalike) reply would be: "Surely he is not who must ask."
  • She was a terrible stu­dent, impulsive, hyperac­tive, completely absent-minded and a troublemaker.

All 14 example sentences with impulsive

Synonyms of impulsive

Forms of impulsive

Adjective
comparativemore impulsive
superlativemost impulsive
Noun
pluralimpulsives

Origin of impulsive

Borrowed from Middle French impulsif, from Latin impulsivus.

Words formed from impulsive

Phrases with impulsive

Questions about impulsive

What does impulsive mean?
Impulsive means having the power of driving or impelling; giving an impulse; moving; impellent.
What is impulsive in Hindi?
Impulsive in Hindi is आवेगपूर्ण, आवेगशील, आवेगजनक. See Impulsive meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is impulsive?
Impulsive can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce impulsive?
Impulsive is pronounced /ɪmˈpʌlsɪv/.

Words near impulsive in the dictionary

  1. impulseless
  2. impulses
  3. impulsing
  4. impulsion
  5. impulsions
  6. impulsive
  7. impulsive speech
  8. impulsive speeches
  9. impulsively
  10. impulsiveness
  11. impulsivenesses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: impulsive (page history and authors); impulsive (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); impulsive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); impulsive (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); اضطراری (Urdu) (page history and authors); Impulsive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); impulsive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); impulsive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); impulsive (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); impulsive (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); impulsive (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Cite this entry: “impulsive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/impulsive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.