How to Use impulse in a Sentence

impulse

noun
  • He has to learn to control his impulses.
  • That might curb their impulse to call you in the first place.
    Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 18 July 2022
  • Locking up a firearm could put the brakes on the impulse.
    Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2020
  • The natural impulse may be to fight the current and try to swim back to the shore.
    Leigh Morgan, al, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Those impulses had to be quelled in order to play the part.
    Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, 10 Jan. 2018
  • Those impulses recede, but linger over the rest of the record.
    Maura Johnston, Time, 2 June 2018
  • But his first impulse was to rush to the office and buy stock options.
    Paul Voosen, Science | AAAS, 15 Apr. 2020
  • Were these pictures born from the same impulse that led you to sketch in school books?
    Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, 14 Jan. 2022
  • And then her next impulse was to change her breakfast plans.
    Nancy Kruh, Peoplemag, 10 Nov. 2022
  • His impulse is to guard his cherished savings and not to spend.
    Judith Graham, CNN, 19 Aug. 2020
  • Fight that impulse, and stick it on the grill, where the high heat will kill off the bacteria.
    NBC News, 21 June 2019
  • The impulse to choose sides is inherent in our species.
    Madeleine Albright, Time, 15 Jan. 2021
  • The impulse to wonder and to pry is, of course, as old as courtship itself.
    Anna Pulley, RedEye Chicago, 25 Sep. 2017
  • Think long-term, and learn to say 'no' to impulse spending.
    Elizabeth Logan, Teen Vogue, 21 Sep. 2017
  • Will France feel any impulse to right the historic wrong?
    Amy Wilentz, The New Republic, 25 May 2022
  • Just control that impulse to buy dozens and dozens of trinkets and cool stuff.
    Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 8 Feb. 2018
  • The human impulse is to look for order, but there isn’t any.
    Ann Patchett, Harper's Magazine, 17 Aug. 2021
  • And this is a good impulse, most of the time, but there’s value in sweetness.
    Claire Comstock-Gay, The Cut, 18 June 2018
  • My first impulse is no longer to destroy those that might be a nuisance.
    Steve Meyer, Anchorage Daily News, 24 July 2021
  • Those old impulses of doing the wrong thing just don’t go away.
    Mike Sacks, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2017
  • As any parent, my impulse is to tell them to be careful and not get hurt.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Oct. 2022
  • The restaurant takes its name from the Latin word for movement or impulse.
    Greg Morago, Houston Chronicle, 27 Feb. 2018
  • There is a zest for life, with an impulse to explore and expand.
    BostonGlobe.com, 31 July 2020
  • But now is not the time to reach for easy answers and give into dark impulses.
    Ryan Hampton, Time, 15 Aug. 2023
  • Perhaps your first impulse will be to do something fun with it.
    Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 8 Aug. 2023
  • Is there a sadistic impulse in playing with the viewer that way?
    Adam Nayman, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2022
  • By some measures, the impulse to sell this time around seems early.
    Dan Gallagher, WSJ, 16 July 2021
  • Many consignors make an impulse buy, then never wear the item.
    Laura Daily, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2023
  • When Claremont found out, his first impulse was to quit in protest.
    Graeme McMillan, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 June 2019
  • And if that anger is removed, will the impulse to act also be lessened?
    Aleksandra Crapanzano, Marie Claire, 20 Dec. 2012

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'impulse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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