imperate

English

Etymology

First attested in 1543, as an adjective, as a verb in 1598; borrowed from Latin imperātus, perfect passive participle of imperō (“to command”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Doublet of mpret.

Pronunciation

verb

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪm.pə.ɹeɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪm.pɚ.eɪt/
• Rhymes: -eɪt

adjective

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪm.pə.ɹɪt/, /ˈɪm.pə.ɹət/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪm.pɚ.ɪt/, /ˈɪm.pɚ.ət/
• Rhymes: -ɪt, -ət

Verb

imperate (third-person singular simple present imperates, present participle imperating, simple past and past participle imperated) (rare, now chiefly religion)

1. To command.
   • 1633, William Ames, “I. 54”, in Fresh Suit against Human Ceremonies:

     There be duties […] imperated or governed by religion.

2. To rule, govern.
   • 1660, Roger Coke, “Elements Power & Subjection, II. Of Laws”, in Justice Vindicated‎:

     A Law differs from Counsel, as my Understanding differs from my Will: my Will is that which imperates all my actions my Understanding informs my Will, whether the doing or not not doing such an act be good or bad, just or unjust, reasonable or unreasonable.

3. To direct, motivate.
   • 2002, Brian Shanley, “II. 33”, in The Thomist Tradition:

     The act of the will that precedes and imperates faith is not yet the love of charity but rather an intention or desire to love.

Adjective

imperate (not comparable)

1. (philosophy or theology, rare, obsolete outside of religion) Done by express direction; not involuntary; commanded.

   imperate acts; imperate actions

   • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “De Homine; The Introduction, declaring the reaſon of the choice of this Subject, and the Method of the intended Diſcourſe”, in The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC, section I, page 22:

     And because I find that the remoteſt Muſcle in my Body moves at the command of my Will, and ſince I ſee the energy of my Soul in every particle of my Body, though not uſing intellectual actions in every part, yet uſing ſome that are imperate, as Local Motion; […]

   • 1880, The Catholic World, number 442/1:

     The will by an imperate act commands the assent of the intellect to the truth revealed by God.

2. (as a participle, obsolete) Imperated.
   • c. 1550, Iohne Rolland, “The Thrid Buik”, in Walter Gregor, editor, Ane Treatise Callit The Court of Venus: Deuidit Into Four Buikis, Edinburgh; London: […] for the [Scottish Text] Society by William Blackwood and Sons, published 1884, page 89, lines 253–261:

     Than Venus said in mind half stomachat,
     Of the assyis nane salbe alterat.
     As for the Roll, gif thay pleis, reid agane.
     Than said Vesta to Venus, weill I wait
     Ȝe aucht not be baith Iudge and Aduocat.
     For and sa be, it is wrang ȝe do plane,
     Than said Venus with mind almaist Insane.
     It salbe sa as I haif Imperat.
     Than said Vesta, Iustice can not remane.

   • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “De Homine; The Introduction, declaring the reaſon of the choice of this Subject, and the Method of the intended Diſcourſe”, in The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC, section I, page 30:

     3. Again, there be very many Operations, that although they flow from this active Principle, yet they are not acts that are imperate by the Will, but they are in a manner natural and unvoluntary; and therefore I call them ſometimes Involuntary, ſometimes Natural, and they are very many and various; ſuch are many of the acts of Senſe, eſspecially the external.

Related terms

• emperor
• empire
• empress
• imperation
• imperative
• imperator
• imperial
• imperialism

Further reading

• “imperate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• eta prime, etaprime, premiate

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /impeˈrate/

Verb

imperate

1. adverbial present passive participle of imperar

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

imperate

1. inflection of imperare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

imperate f pl

1. feminine plural of imperato

Anagrams

• permeati, pietrame, premiate, temperai

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɪm.pɛˈraː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [im.peˈraː.te]

Verb

imperāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of imperō

Spanish

Verb

imperate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of imperar combined with te