impending

adjective

im·​pend·​ing im-ˈpen-diŋ 

: occurring or likely to occur soon : upcoming

impending trials

impending motherhood

… scientists who rely on the satellite signals for hints of impending earthquakes and volcanic eruptions …

—R. Monastersky

… heed the warnings of impending disaster.

—Publishers Weekly

… many of us secretly enjoy the sassier commercials and elegant layouts, not to mention being told of impending sales.

—Andrew Hacker

Synonyms of impending

• upcoming
• approaching
• coming

Examples of impending in a Sentence

an impending celebration of the 100th anniversary of the college's founding

an aura of impending doom hung over the city

Recent Examples on the Web

Though still somewhat shaky, shipping confidence in transiting the vital strait is rising rapidly, leading forecasters to warn of an impending oil glut; Citi predicts prices could fall to as low as $60 a barrel by the end of the year. — Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 3 July 2026

Neither will New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who on Tuesday was mum on any details to which he’d been made privy, carefully side-stepping a question about the Swift event during a press conference about the impending heat wave. — Alli Rosenbloom, CNN Money, 1 July 2026

An extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service for the Pittsburgh area will enter a second day as the region braces for temperatures in the 90s and an impending heat wave. — Mike Darnay, CBS News, 1 July 2026

Major League Baseball faces an impending lockout as the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on December 1st. — Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of impend

First Known Use

1616, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for impending

• amending
• appending
• ascending
• attending
• befriending
• commending
• contending
• defending
• depending
• descending
• distending
• expending