Impose
[ɪm'pəʊz] or [ɪm'poz]
Definition
(v. t.) To lay on; to set or place; to put; to deposit.
(v. t.) To lay as a charge, burden, tax, duty, obligation, command, penalty, etc.; to enjoin; to levy; to inflict; as, to impose a toll or tribute.
(v. t.) To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. i.) To practice trick or deception.
(n.) A command; injunction.
Checked by Gardner
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Put, lay, set, place.[2]. Prescribe, enjoin, appoint.[3]. Obtrude, palm, pass off.
Typist: Stacey
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Lay, inflict, fix, set, place, enjoin
ANT:Remove, disburden
Checked by Hillel
Definition
v.t. to place upon: to lay on: to enjoin or command: to put over by authority or force: to obtrude unfairly: to pass off: (print.) to arrange or place in a chase as pages of type.—v.i. (with upon) to mislead or deceive: act with constraining effect.—n. (Shak.) command injunction.—adjs. Impos′able capable of being imposed or laid on; Impos′ing commanding: adapted to impress forcibly.—adv. Impos′ingly.—ns. Impos′ingness; Imposi′tion a laying on: laying on of hands in ordination: a tax a burden: a deception.
Typist: Veronica
Examples
- Oh, yes, said Alvanly, you will give yourself a good character of course; but I shall not impose upon your goodness by doing anything half so rude. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I mention this in your hearing, Jane, that you may not attempt to impose on Mr. Brocklehurst. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- And surely, said he, this is not a very severe order which we impose upon them. Plato. The Republic.
- I am sure he still means to impose on me if possible, and get a cousin of his own into a certain mill, which I design for somebody else. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- But this could not impose on Fanny. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Still more so, by the stipulation of implicit confidence which I beg to impose. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The ruler may impose the laws and institutions which we have been describing, and the citizens may possibly be willing to obey them? Plato. The Republic.
- They imposed another pirate upon us at Nazareth--another invincible Arab guard. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- To Elizabeth, however, he voluntarily acknowledged that the necessity of his absence _had_ been self-imposed. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- The limits imposed practically were such as to require that the system should not cost more than a cable road to install. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The tax of a guinea a-head for every man-servant, which has lately been imposed in Great Britain, is of the same kind. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- In this respect he is far below Aristotle, who is comparatively seldom imposed upon by false analogies. Plato. The Republic.
- To have imposed any derogatory work upon him, would have been to inflict a wanton insult on the feelings of a most respectable man. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The old subsidy was imposed indifferently upon exportation, as well as importation. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The coach-tax and plate tax are examples of the former method of imposing; the greater part of the other duties of excise and customs, of the latter. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- I exclaimed, as I looked round; for I had never before seen any half so imposing. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- It was impossible to see this grand and imposing sight, and not to feel its singleness, if we may so speak. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- I am surprised to find him a meeker man than I had thought, and less imposing in appearance. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I was convinced upon this return trip that there was a future for the horseless carriage, although I did not at that time expect it to be so brilliant and imposing. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Riviere had succeeded in imposing himself: Archer, reddening slightly, dropped into his chair again, and signed to the young man to be seated. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- It was not a very good day for a visit, he said; he would have preferred the first day of term; but it was imposing, it was imposing. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Even the experimental work imposes no slight burden on it. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- It was a profound observation when Bernard Shaw said that men dread liberty because of the bewildering responsibility it imposes and the uncommon alertness it demands. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In some provinces of France, the king not only imposes what taxes he thinks proper, but assesses and levies them in the way he thinks proper. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The want of parsimony, in time of peace, imposes the necessity of contracting debt in time of war. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- This danger imposes upon the school a steadying and integrating office. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The act of the mind, exprest by a promise, is not a resolution to perform any thing: For that alone never imposes any obligation. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- When we observe them separated in any person's character, this imposes a kind of violence on our imagination, and is disagreeable. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
Edited by Annabel