Library / English Dictionary

IMPRINT

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A device produced by pressure on a surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("imprint" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imprint"):

impression ((dentistry) an imprint of the teeth and gums in wax or plaster)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A distinctive influence

Example:

English stills bears the imprint of the Norman invasion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("imprint" is a kind of...):

influence (a cognitive factor that tends to have an effect on what you do)

Derivation:

imprint (establish or impress firmly in the mind)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An impression produced by pressure or printing

Synonyms:

embossment; imprint

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("imprint" is a kind of...):

impression; stamp (a symbol that is the result of printing or engraving)

Derivation:

imprint (mark or stamp with or as if with pressure)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An identification of a publisher; a publisher's name along with the date and address and edition that is printed at the bottom of the title page

Example:

the book was published under a distinguished imprint

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("imprint" is a kind of...):

identification (evidence of identity; something that identifies a person or thing)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A concavity in a surface produced by pressing

Example:

he left the impression of his fingers in the soft mud

Synonyms:

depression; impression; imprint

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("imprint" is a kind of...):

concave shape; concavity; incurvation; incurvature (a shape that curves or bends inward)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imprint"):

dimple (a small natural hollow in the cheek or chin)

channel; groove (a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record))

dimple (any slight depression in a surface)

dip (a depression in an otherwise level surface)

dent; incision; prick; scratch; slit (a depression scratched or carved into a surface)

droop; sag (a shape that sags)

crease; crinkle; furrow; line; seam; wrinkle (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)

chap; crack; cranny; crevice; fissure (a long narrow depression in a surface)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mark or stamp with or as if with pressure

Example:

To make a batik, you impress a design with wax

Synonyms:

impress; imprint

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "imprint" is one way to...):

change surface (undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface)

"Imprint" entails doing...:

press (exert pressure or force to or upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "imprint"):

stamp (to mark, or produce an imprint in or on something)

boss; emboss; stamp (raise in a relief)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

imprint (an impression produced by pressure or printing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Establish or impress firmly in the mind

Example:

We imprint our ideas onto our children

Synonyms:

form; imprint

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "imprint" is one way to...):

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something on somebody

Derivation:

imprint (a distinctive influence)

imprinting (a learning process in early life whereby species specific patterns of behavior are established)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The resulting spectra are a record of that imprint.

(Sunsets on Titan reveal the complexity of hazy exoplanets, NASA)

A pliable length of fabric, plastic, paper or some composite that is has incremental lengths imprinted on the surface.

(Measuring Tape, NCI Thesaurus)

I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The flowers were trampled down, and the soft soil was imprinted all over with footmarks.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A mile above the forks, running velvet-footed as was his custom, a gliding shadow that cautiously prospected each new vista of the trail, he came upon later imprints of the large tracks he had discovered in the early morning.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He was giving orders for a toothpick-case for himself, and till its size, shape, and ornaments were determined, all of which, after examining and debating for a quarter of an hour over every toothpick-case in the shop, were finally arranged by his own inventive fancy, he had no leisure to bestow any other attention on the two ladies, than what was comprised in three or four very broad stares; a kind of notice which served to imprint on Elinor the remembrance of a person and face, of strong, natural, sterling insignificance, though adorned in the first style of fashion.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

That Peggotty was the best, the truest, the most faithful, most devoted, and most self-denying friend and servant in the world; who had ever loved me dearly, who had ever loved my mother dearly; who had held my mother's dying head upon her arm, on whose face my mother had imprinted her last grateful kiss.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Human H19 is a paternally-imprinted, oncofetal gene encoding an RNA product; it acts as a riboregulator in gene expression and is found at substantial levels in different human tumor cell types while its expression in normal adult tissue is limited.

(DTA-H19 Plasmid, NCI Thesaurus)

A new study led by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and the Institute of Marine Research in Norway found that European glass eels use their magnetic sense to imprint a memory of water currents in the estuary where they become juveniles.

(Study uncovers magnetic memory of European glass eels, National Science Foundation)

This process imprints information about the planet that can be collected by telescopes.

(Sunsets on Titan reveal the complexity of hazy exoplanets, NASA)