IMPERATIVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Imperative

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/ɪmpˈɛrətɪv/ Listen

Imperative

noun

A mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior. Synonyms: imperative form, imperative mood, jussive mood.

Some duty that is essential and urgent.

adjective

Requiring attention or action. "Requests that grew more and more imperative" Antonym: beseeching.

Relating to verbs in the imperative mood.

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imperative form

imperative mood

categorical imperative

hypothetical imperative

imperativeness

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"Imperative" Quotes from Famous Books

... migratory instincts of birds have been developed and intensified through countless generations by the imperative need for instinctive guidance, and the comparatively small temptation to inductive reasoning based on known facts. Evidently the bird is emboldened to migrate by the comfortable belief that somewhere the world contains food and warmth to its liking, and that if it flies fast enough ...

— The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals • William T. Hornaday

... man whose life has been so strangely mingled with your life and mine—the man who was once your admirer and my friend. And yet, feeling this, seeing it in my mind as plainly as I see the sky above my head, there is a weakness in me that still shrinks from the one imperative sacrifice of never seeing you again. I am fighting with it as a man fights with the strength of his despair. I have been near enough, not an hour since, to see the house where you live, and have forced myself away again out of sight of it. Can I force ...

— Armadale • Wilkie Collins

... of the king, in view of the peril, was so great, that Hortense was informed that the public safety required that she should immediately leave France, notwithstanding the continued sickness of her son. The order was imperative. But both the king and the minister offered her money, that she might continue her journey to London. But Hortense did not need pecuniary aid. She had just cashed at the bank an order for sixteen thousand francs. Before leaving the city, Louis Napoleon wrote to the king a very eloquent and ...

— Hortense, Makers of History Series • John S. C. Abbott

... effects tend to show. And this is not opposed to that which Aristotle seems to state in the tenth book of the Ethics, that to the separate substances the Contemplative Life must be requisite; as also the Active Life must be imperative to them. Nevertheless, in the contemplation of certain truths the revolution of the Heaven follows, which is the government of the World; which is, as it were, a Civil government ordained and comprehended in the contemplation of the movers, that is, the ruling Intelligences. The other reason ...

— The Banquet (Il Convito) • Dante Alighieri

... imperative,' Sir Philip said, 'and, if we wish to gain the mastery of the Yssel, this must be done. There are some matters which cause me great uneasiness. Stores are short and money greatly needed; nor do I put ...

— Penshurst Castle - In the Days of Sir Philip Sidney • Emma Marshall

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