impulsive
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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.im·pul·sive
adjective \im-ˈpəl-siv\Definition of IMPULSIVE
1
: having the power of or actually driving or impelling
2
a : arising from an impulse <an impulsive decision> b : prone to act on impulse <an impulsive young man>
3
: acting momentarily
— im·pul·sive·ly adverb
— im·pul·sive·ness noun
— im·pul·siv·i·ty \-ˌpəl-ˈsi-və-tē\ noun
See Examples of IMPULSIVE
- She's impulsive and often does things that she later regrets.
- He needs to learn to control his impulsive behavior.
- She made an impulsive decision to quit her job.
- I couldn't make out exactly what had happened, though I could guess how it started—the two of them talking, kidding around when Mrs. Ramsey came down to the library basement to file some periodicals, an impulsive kiss in the stacks … —Tobias Wolff, Old School, 2003
- There was an odd nobility, a knight-errant quality, about Alan—in his willingness to suffer for the sake of life itself, in his tendency to view himself under harsher light than he would turn on others, in his impulsive generosity. —Tracy Kidder, Home Town, 1999
- So speaks Maude Bailey, the celibate feminist scholar heroine of A. S. Byatt's fifth novel, as, in an impulsive collusion with a male scholar she scarcely knows, she runs off to Brittany. —Joyce Carol Oates, Vogue, November 1990
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Origin of IMPULSIVE
(see 2impulse)
First Known Use: 15th century
Related to IMPULSIVE
- Synonyms
- besetting, driven, compulsive, obsessional, obsessive
See Synonym Discussion at spontaneous
Other Psychology Terms
Rhymes with IMPULSIVE
im·pul·sive
adjective \im-ˈpəl-siv\ (Medical Dictionary)Medical Definition of IMPULSIVE
1
: having the power of or actually driving or impelling
2
: actuated by or prone to act on impulse <impulsive behavior>
3
: acting momentarily <brief impulsive auditory stimuli>
—im·pul·sive·ly adverb
—im·pul·sive·ness noun
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