| Library / English Dictionary |
IMPOSING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Used of a person's appearance or behavior; befitting an eminent person
Example:
she reigned in magisterial beauty
Synonyms:
distinguished; grand; imposing; magisterial
Classified under:
Similar:
dignified (having or expressing dignity; especially formality or stateliness in bearing or appearance)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Impressive in appearance
Example:
stately columns
Synonyms:
baronial; imposing; noble; stately
Classified under:
Similar:
impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb impose
Context examples:
Fanny gave a quick negative, and tried to hide her interest in the subject by an eager attention to her brother, who was driving as hard a bargain, and imposing on her as much as he could; but Crawford pursued with No, no, you must not part with the queen.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
The blunders, the blindness of her own head and heart!—she sat still, she walked about, she tried her own room, she tried the shrubbery—in every place, every posture, she perceived that she had acted most weakly; that she had been imposed on by others in a most mortifying degree; that she had been imposing on herself in a degree yet more mortifying; that she was wretched, and should probably find this day but the beginning of wretchedness.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I look as if I needed it, don't I? said Laurie, getting up and striking an attitude which suddenly changed from the imposing to the rapturous, as Amy's voice was heard calling, Where is she?
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
When your ruler Mars joins this imposing group from February 16 until March 30, your career will catch fire again, like it did in late December at holiday time, only this time, it will burn even brighter.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Fine gentlemen smiled at her benevolently as they talked with Martin and one another; a type-writer clicked; signatures were affixed to an imposing document; her own landlord was there, too, and affixed his signature; and when all was over and she was outside on the sidewalk, her landlord spoke to her, saying, Well, Maria, you won't have to pay me no seven dollars and a half this month.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
To be cast away on an island had not entered into my calculations, so we were without a kettle or cooking utensils of any sort; but I made shift with the tin used for bailing the boat, and later, as we consumed our supply of canned goods, we accumulated quite an imposing array of cooking vessels.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I am surprised to find him a meeker man than I had thought, and less imposing in appearance.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It was an imposing porticoed house at which we stopped, and the heavily-curtained windows gave every indication of wealth upon the part of this formidable Professor.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Everything appeared very stately and imposing to me; but then I was so little accustomed to grandeur.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He was neither rich nor great, young nor handsome, in no respect what is called fascinating, imposing, or brilliant, and yet he was as attractive as a genial fire, and people seemed to gather about him as naturally as about a warm hearth.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
