overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

imperative.

Essential; crucial; extremely important.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.tɪv/Received-Pronunciation/ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.tɪv/Canada, General-American[ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.ɾɪv]Canada, General-American/ɪmˈpeɹ.ə.tɪv/Australia

  1. Essential; crucial; extremely important.

    That you come here right now is imperative.

  2. Of, or relating to the imperative mood.

  3. Having semantics that incorporates mutable variables.

  4. Expressing a command; authoritatively or absolutely directive.

    imperative orders
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o- Latin *paro- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin parō Latin imperō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin īvus Latin imperātīvusbor. English imperative Borrowed from Latin imperātīvus.

noun/ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.tɪv/Received-Pronunciation/ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.tɪv/Canada, General-American[ɪmˈpɛɹ.ə.ɾɪv]Canada, General-American/ɪmˈpeɹ.ə.tɪv/Australia

  1. The grammatical mood expressing an order (see jussive). In English, the imperative form of a verb is the same as that of the bare infinitive.

    uncountable
    The verbs in sentences like "Do it!" and "Say what you like!" are in the imperative.

  2. A verb in the imperative mood.

    countable

  3. An essential action, a must: something which is imperative.

    countable
    Visiting Berlin is an imperative.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o- Latin *paro- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin parō Latin imperō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin īvus Latin imperātīvusbor. English imperative Borrowed from Latin imperātīvus.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

imperative has 10 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

imperative studioimperative workshello, imperative

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.