1
as in capriciousness
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2
as in impulsiveness
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Recent Examples of impetuosity
What few at the time foresaw was that the region could be delivered to China through Trump’s sheer impetuosity, or his inability to think before posting.
—
Quico Toro, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2025
Two centuries later, the Greek historian Polybius contrasted Roman discipline, order, and rationality with Celtic impetuosity, chaos, and passion on the battlefield.
—Michele Gelfand, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021
His sacred vows didn’t stop Kelly from displaying the impetuosity that brands this city’s fans.
—Frank Fitzpatrick, Philly.com, 14 Apr. 2018
Regardless of whether fate led these men to board the train, Eastwood suggests that what drove them to act when faced with a crisis was their youthful impetuosity.
—Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader, 9 Feb. 2018
Meeting his current expedition partner, Børge Ousland, required another stroke of youthful impetuosity.
—Kelly Bastone, Outside Online, 8 Nov. 2017
Not to give too much away, but Alice’s romantic impetuosity in her youth has fateful consequences that only a show as sentimentally over the top as this could happily resolve.
—Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 23 Oct. 2017
This president combines qualities of Shakespeare’s worst kings: the vanity of Lear, the impetuosity of Richard II, the maliciousness of Richard III.
—Paula Marantz Cohen, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2017
But, then again, that’s the sort of recipe favored by Donald Trump, a president who acts with impetuosity and has little time for strategy.
—Matt Giles, Longreads, 31 July 2017
Quico Toro, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2025
Two centuries later, the Greek historian Polybius contrasted Roman discipline, order, and rationality with Celtic impetuosity, chaos, and passion on the battlefield.
—Michele Gelfand, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021
His sacred vows didn’t stop Kelly from displaying the impetuosity that brands this city’s fans.
—Frank Fitzpatrick, Philly.com, 14 Apr. 2018
Regardless of whether fate led these men to board the train, Eastwood suggests that what drove them to act when faced with a crisis was their youthful impetuosity.
—Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader, 9 Feb. 2018
Meeting his current expedition partner, Børge Ousland, required another stroke of youthful impetuosity.
—Kelly Bastone, Outside Online, 8 Nov. 2017
Not to give too much away, but Alice’s romantic impetuosity in her youth has fateful consequences that only a show as sentimentally over the top as this could happily resolve.
—Charles McNulty, latimes.com, 23 Oct. 2017
This president combines qualities of Shakespeare’s worst kings: the vanity of Lear, the impetuosity of Richard II, the maliciousness of Richard III.
—Paula Marantz Cohen, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2017
But, then again, that’s the sort of recipe favored by Donald Trump, a president who acts with impetuosity and has little time for strategy.
—Matt Giles, Longreads, 31 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impetuosity
Noun
-
Whether out of arrogance, capriciousness, or collective amnesia, this recent history was ignored.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
-
The capriciousness of fate was not lost on Karstens and many of the survivors.—
Jake Goodrick,
Sacbee.com,
23 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Ortiz and Brown take on Bebo and Lola portraying the impulsiveness of youth, exacerbated, particularly in Bebo’s case, by poverty and limited options to make his way in the world.—
Carlos Aguilar,
IndieWire,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Montse is intuition, strength, impulsiveness and heart.—
Callum McLennan,
Variety,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
And yet, Washington responded to Genet not with rashness and bravado but with restraint made public law.—
Maurizio Valsania,
The Conversation,
9 Jan. 2026
-
His audacity and her rashness might surprise some.—
Hanako Montgomery,
CNN Money,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
One needed Mother Nature to bestow upon brewers the right temperatures for making beer, and in the days before refrigeration and even thermometers, that meant that brewing was largely dictated by the caprices of the seasons.—
Jay R. Brooks,
Mercury News,
27 Feb. 2026
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Order the waterzooi — the house specialty seafood stew — the duck confit, the crepe caprice, or the escargot petit gris served in a Roquefort cream sauce.—
USA TODAY NETWORK,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Robust evidence shows that treatment for ADHD reduces impulsivity and improves sustained attention and daily functioning at all ages.—
Deldhy Nicolás Moya Sánchez,
The Conversation,
16 Mar. 2026
-
The distinction that Posen drew about the present operations is the administration’s casual consideration and impulsivity around making war.—
Marie-Rose Sheinerman,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But this doesn’t explain the rapidity of the shift nor the fact that all the leading American AI research labs moved in the same direction.—
Nick Srnicek,
Wired News,
14 Jan. 2026
-
Still others warned of the rapidity with which democracy could give way to dictatorship.—
Talya Zax,
The Atlantic,
23 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
There is no shortage of extravagant beachfront villas in the Caribbean, but this one distinguishes itself by combining the best of neo-classical design with a touch of whimsy.—
Tori Latham,
Robb Report,
19 Mar. 2026
-
That freshness features big on the menu as well, alongside the whimsy of Disney’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic.—
Amy Drew Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
18 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
As a result, those close to him have felt that there have been some vagaries around his role within the team since his arrival.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
-
The vagaries of the schedule are something that figures to hamper MLS teams all season.—
Kevin Baxter,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impetuosity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impetuosity. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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