imperious · adj — domineering, arrogant, or overbearing. It carries an Arena rating of 1575, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, imperious ranks #904 of 17,134 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,733 of 17,149 for Most Incisive Words, #4,342 of 17,132 for Most Elegant Words, #4,349 of 17,141 for Scariest Words.
imperious is pronounced /ɪmˈpɪə̯.ɹi.əs/.
Why “imperious” is a great word
Domineering and arrogant in a way that shows a desire to command and control others. From the Latin imperiōsus ("mighty, powerful"), from imperium ("command, authority, power"), first attested in English in the 1540s. Unlike “authoritative,” which suggests legitimate, respected power, or “imperial,” which denotes sovereign dominion, “imperious” is the unearned swagger of one who mistakes volume for validity—the finger drumming against the countertop while another speaks, the slight backward tilt of the chin that demands the room's geometry rearrange itself, or the practiced interruption that arrives always at the precise moment before another's thought might complete itself. It is power stripped of its robes and ceremony, a performance of command so desperate it betrays its own fragility.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Latin imperiōsus (“mighty, powerful”), from imperium (“command, authority, power”).
adj
- Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing.
- Urgent; intensely compelling.
- Imperial or regal.e.g.“All the terrors of Antichrist; his cruel ediets and anathemas that were thundered from his imperious throne, like storms of fire and brimstone […]” — 1789, Ephraim Judson, Ambassadors appointed by Christ to treat with mankind on the subject of reconciliation to God, page 7:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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