imbue

verb im·bue \ im-ˈbyü \

|Updated on: 13 Jul 2018

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Examples: imbue in a Sentence

Editor's Note: imbue Has Old French Roots

Definition of imbue

imbued; imbuing

transitive verb

1 : to permeate or influence as if by dyeing

the spirit that imbues the new constitution

2 : to tinge or dye deeply

3 : endow 3

Spanish missions imbue the city with Old World charm
—Scott Pendleton

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imbue was our Word of the Day on 10/25/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of imbue in a Sentence

A feeling of optimism imbues her works.
her training at the school for the deaf imbued her with a sense of purpose that she had never known before

Recent Examples of imbue from the Web

In addition to being a cost-effective way to imbue a bit of personality into your home, these hacks reduce waste and promote upcycling.

— lilah ramzi, Vogue, "5 Companies That Will Make Your Ikea Furniture Seem Custom-Made," 13 June 2018
Nor are terpenes, the compounds that Black Hammer uses to imbue beers with that dank cannabis flavor.

— esther mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, "S.F.’s Black Hammer Brewing ordered to stop making cannabis beer," 23 May 2018
Some observers are skeptical that corporate efforts to imbue ethics into AI will make a difference.

— tom simonite, WIRED, "Tech Firms Move to Put Ethical Guard Rails Around AI," 16 May 2018
The wins built morale in the city and seemed to imbue the Joe with a larger-than-life persona.

— allie gross, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Red Wings fans scoop up Joe Louis Arena chairs, slice of history," 15 May 2018
But their flaws highlight both the power and the potential pitfalls of software imbued with even a sliver of artificial intelligence.

— jonathan vanian, Fortune, "Unmasking A.I.'s Bias Problem," 25 June 2018
The symposium also offered an interactive forum for exploring approaches to imbue professional nurses and interprofessional partners with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to successfully engage in clinical inquiry.

— valerie sweeten, Houston Chronicle, "INSPIRE symposium offers RN insight, engagement," 10 June 2018
Clarkson did imbue powerful emotion in her speech, drawing upon her own roots in Texas.

— spencer kornhaber, The Atlantic, "The Silence in Kelly Clarkson’s Call for ‘Action’ on Mass Shootings," 21 May 2018
There’s no magic word to speak that will suddenly, simply, imbue you with the wisdom of a full long human life.

— claire comstock-gay, The Cut, "Madame Clairevoyant: Horoscopes for the Week of May 14," 14 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'imbue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

imbue Has Old French Roots

Like its synonym infuse, imbue implies the introduction of one thing into another so as to affect it throughout. A nation can be imbued with pride, for example, or a photograph might be imbued with a sense of melancholy. In the past imbue has also been used synonymously with imbrue, an obscure word meaning "to drench or stain," but etymologists do not think the two words are related. Imbue derives from the Latin verb imbuere, meaning "to dye, wet, or moisten." Imbrue has been traced back through Anglo-French and Old French to the Latin verb bibere, meaning "to drink."

Origin and Etymology of imbue

Latin imbuere

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1555

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

imbue Synonyms

Synonyms

endue (or indue), inculcate, infuse, ingrain (also engrain), inoculate, invest, steep, suffuse;

Near Antonyms

deprive, divest, strip;

clear, empty;

eliminate, remove, take away;

implant, instill, plant;

impregnate, permeate, pervade, saturate;

deluge, drown, fill, flood, inundate, overwhelm, submerge;

Synonym Discussion of imbue

infuse, suffuse, imbue, ingrain, inoculate, leaven mean to introduce one thing into another so as to affect it throughout. infuse implies a pouring in of something that gives new life or significance.