1
as in authoritarian
fond of ordering people around
an imperious little boy who liked to tell the other scouts what to do
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in arrogant
having a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing attitude
an imperious movie star who thinks she's some sort of goddess
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3
as in arbitrary
having or showing a tendency to force one's will on others without any regard to fairness or necessity
an office administrator with an imperious manner that really grates on people
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in urgent
needing immediate attention
as war casualties mounted, the need for trained nurses became imperious
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of imperious
There are six pairs of actors playing the two leads (along with several different Raouls and Madame Girys, the latter being our spooky, imperious tour guide through the whole shebang).
—
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
Behind the imperious trio of Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Odyssey Sims, the Indiana Fever fought off the Las Vegas Aces 90-83 to force their WNBA semifinal series to a win-or-go-home Game 5 in Sin City on Tuesday night.
—Frank Nunns O'Connell 11 Hr Ago, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2025
Premier League leader Liverpool cannot stop winning and enters Saturday's Merseyside derby in imperious form.
—Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Sep. 2025
Frida’s terminally ill mom, Victoria (Montse Guallar), escapes into a hedonistic haze of morphine, imperious behavior, and pansexual dalliances.
—Judy Berman, Time, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for imperious
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
Behind the imperious trio of Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Odyssey Sims, the Indiana Fever fought off the Las Vegas Aces 90-83 to force their WNBA semifinal series to a win-or-go-home Game 5 in Sin City on Tuesday night.
—Frank Nunns O'Connell 11 Hr Ago, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2025
Premier League leader Liverpool cannot stop winning and enters Saturday's Merseyside derby in imperious form.
—Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Sep. 2025
Frida’s terminally ill mom, Victoria (Montse Guallar), escapes into a hedonistic haze of morphine, imperious behavior, and pansexual dalliances.
—Judy Berman, Time, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for imperious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imperious
Adjective
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There’s a moving moment of magnanimity, which won’t be given away here, that proves the underlying dignity of a people broken by an authoritarian state.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
24 Oct. 2025
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The plot of His Dark Materials is driven by the long-running conflict between Pullman’s heroine, a bold, lithely intelligent 11-year-old named Lyra, and the Magisterium, an authoritarian incarnation of Christianity.—
Lev Grossman,
The Atlantic,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Three or four decades ago, the newspaperman was appealingly raffish—at once a bum who drank too much and a knight-errant who charged unafraid at social injustice, succored the weak, and crossed lances with the powerful and arrogant.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
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Elsewhere, the details lifted from the book suffer in translation – Branagh’s Victor is appropriately arrogant but not adequately tortured; De Niro’s Monster is sensitive and intuitive, but drowns in the film’s hurried, hollow second half.—
Rory Doherty,
Vulture,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Several lawsuits have already been filed challenging the fee and selection changes, with universities, labor groups, and business organizations arguing that the administration exceeded its authority and that the new rules are arbitrary.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
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Not every such deprivation becomes a literal matter of life and death as in the play, but making use of such scenarios enables Shakespeare to highlight more effectively the danger of arbitrary action.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This was Liverpool in urgent need of a lift after a series of setbacks and a manager looking elsewhere for solutions rather than backing the club’s long-serving match-winner to deliver.—
James Pearce,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
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The shelter was recently 11 dogs over capacity, making his situation increasingly urgent.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Her anxiety stems from her domineering mother (Barbara Hershey) and rival dancer (Mila Kunis) who may or may not be after her part in the ballet.—
Steven Thrash,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Oct. 2025
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And one of the reasons the film doesn’t succeed is Meryl Streep’s grotesque performance as the filterless, domineering matriarch.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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But the interest in the East Wing demolition had been acute enough that a local-news outlet had identified one of the East Wing dump sites—an industrial park in Hyattsville, Maryland.—
Nancy Walecki,
The Atlantic,
25 Oct. 2025
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The impact is already being felt in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, where UNICEF reports an alarming 11% rise in the number of children with acute malnutrition between January and September this year.—
Rebecca Wright,
CNN Money,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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But having the goods to back up your inflammatory beliefs is hardly the point of Grokipedia, a platform simply meant to appear authoritative in its own right.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
28 Oct. 2025
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Brown, after an authoritative start to the fourth quarter, went quiet down the stretch, scoring just two points in the final five minutes and missing his last three shots.—
Zack Cox,
Boston Herald,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The autocratic czarist regime ruled with an iron hand and suppressed opposition through censorship, banishment, and executions.—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
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As with previous generations of Russians under autocratic rule, from tsarism to Soviet communism, there was no purpose in worrying about the causes of the storm.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Imperious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imperious. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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