Imperious \Im*pe"ri*ous\, a. [L. imperiosus: cf. F.
imp['e]rieux. See Imperial.]
1. Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [Obs.]
"A vast and imperious mind." --Tilloison.
[1913 Webster]
Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness,
Imperious. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Haughly; arrogant; overbearing; as, an imperious tyrant;
an imperious manner.
[1913 Webster]
This imperious man will work us all
From princes into pages. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon
made him conspicuous. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
3. Imperative; urgent; compelling.
[1913 Webster]
Imperious need, which can not be withstood.
--Dryden.
Syn: Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly;
tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative;
authoritative; commanding; pressing.
Usage: Imperious, Lordly, Domineering. One who is
imperious exercises his authority in a manner highly
offensive for its spirit and tone; one who is lordly
assumes a lofty air in order to display his
importance; one who is domineering gives orders in a
way to make others feel their inferiority.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
imperious
adj : able to deal authoritatively with affairs; "dismissed the
matter with an imperious wave of her hand" [syn: masterful]
WordNet (r) 2.0
85 Moby Thesaurus words for "imperious":
U, absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, acute, arbitrary,
aristocratic, arrogant, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic,
binding, bossy, clamorous, coactive, compelling, compulsatory,
compulsive, compulsory, constraining, critical, crucial, crying,
de rigueur, despotic, dictatorial, domineering, driving, dynastic,
elitist, exigent, feudal, grinding, heavy-handed, high and mighty,
high-handed, high-pressure, high-priority, hubristic, imperative,
imperatorial, imperatorious, imperial, insistent, instant,
irresistible, kinglike, kingly, lordly, magisterial, magistral,
majestic, mandatory, masterful, monarchal, monarchial, monarchic,
monocratic, must, necessary, obligatory, oppressive, overbearing,
overruling, peremptory, pivotal, pressing, princelike, princely,
purple, queenlike, queenly, regal, repressive, required,
restraining, royal, severe, sovereign, strict, stringent,
suppressive, tyrannical, tyrannous, urgent
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
masterful
|
|
|