imperative

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: im=per=a=tive

CIDE DICTIONARY

imperative, a. [L. imperativus, fr. imperare to command; pref. im- in + parare to make ready, prepare: cf. F. impératif. See Perade, and cf. Empire.].

•  Expressive of command; containing positive command; authoritatively or absolutely directive; commanding; authoritative; as, imperative orders.  [1913 Webster]

  "The suit of kings are imperative."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not to be avoided or evaded; obligatory; binding; compulsory; as, an imperative duty or order.  [1913 Webster]
•  Expressive of commund, entreaty, advice, or exhortation; as, the imperative mood.  [1913 Webster]

imperative, n. 

 The imperative mood; also, a verb in the imperative mood.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

imperative, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 urgent.
2 obligatory.
3 commanding, peremptory.
4 Gram. (of a mood) expressing a command (e.g. come here!).
--n.
1 Gram. the imperative mood.
2 a command.

Derivative

imperatival adj. imperatively adv. imperativeness n.

Etymology

LL imperativus f. imperare command (as IN-(2), parare make ready)

THESAURUS

imperative

absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, acid, acute, allegiance, arbitrary, aristocratic, arrogant, ascendant, assigned task, authoritarian, authoritative, authorized, autocratic, basic, behest, bidding, binding, biting, bossy, bounden duty, burden, burning, business, call of duty, canon, case of need, charge, choiceless, claimed, clamant, clamorous, clothed with authority, coactive, code, command, commanding, commandment, commitment, compelling, competent, compulsatory, compulsive, compulsory, conclusive, conditional, consequential, considerable, constraining, controlling, convention, corrosive, critical, crucial, crying, cutting, de rigueur, decisive, decretal, decretive, decretory, dedication, deference, demanded, despotic, devoir, devotion, dictate, dictated, dictating, dictation, dictatorial, dictum, dire necessity, direct order, directive, dogmatic, dominant, domineering, driving, duly constituted, duties and responsibilities, duty, effective, eminent, empowered, entailed, essential, ethics, ex officio, exigence, exigency, exigent, fealty, feudal, final, forceful, forcible, form, formula, fundamental, general principle, golden rule, governing, great, grinding, guideline, guiding principle, gutsy, hard-and-fast, harsh, hegemonic, hegemonistic, hest, high-handed, high-pressure, high-priority, homage, immediacy, imperativeness, imperial, imperious, important, importunate, imposed, impressive, incisive, indicative, indispensable, inevitable, influential, insistent, instant, instructive, involuntary, irresistible, irrevocable, jussive, law, leading, line of duty, lordly, loyalty, magisterial, magistral, mandated, mandating, mandatory, masterful, matter of necessity, maxim, mighty, mission, mitzvah, mode, momentous, monocratic, mood, moral, mordant, must, necessary, necessitous, nervous, norm, obligating, obligation, obligative, obligatory, official, onus, oppressive, optative, order, ordering, ordinance, ought, overbearing, overruling, penetrating, peremptory, permissive, piercing, pivotal, place, pleasure, poignant, potent, potential, powerful, preceptive, predicament, preeminent, prerequisite, prescript, prescriptive, pressing, pressingness, pressure, prestigious, principium, principle, prominent, puissant, punchy, ranking, regulation, repressive, required, requisite, respect, restraining, rubric, rule, ruling, say-so, self-imposed duty, senior, sensational, settled principle, severe, sinewed, sinewy, slashing, special order, standard, stern, strict, striking, strong, subjunctive, substantial, superior, suppressive, supreme, telling, tenet, totalitarian, trenchant, tyrannical, tyrannous, ultimate, urgency, urgent, urgent need, vigorous, vital, weighty, will, without appeal, without choice, word, word of command, working principle, working rule

ROGET THESAURUS

imperative

Requirement

N requirement, need, wants, necessities, necessaries, necessaries of life, stress, exigency, pinch, sine qua non, matter of necessity, case of need, case of life or death, needfulness, essentiality, necessity, indispensability, urgency, requisition, run upon, demand, call for, charge, claim, command, injunction, mandate, order, precept, desideratum, want, Adj, required, requisite, needful, necessary, imperative, essential, indispensable, prerequisite, called for, in demand, in request, urgent, exigent, pressing, instant, crying, absorbing, in want of, destitute of, ex necessitate rei, of necessity, there is no time to lose, it cannot be spared, it cannot be dispensed with, mendacem memorem esse oportet, necessitas non habet legem, nec tecum possum trivere nec sine te.

Government

N government, legal authority, soveriegn, sovereign authority, authority, master, direction, national government, nation, state, country, nation- state, dominion, republic, empire, union, democratic republic, kingdom, principality, state government, state, shire, province, county, canton, territory, duchy, archduchy, archdukedom, woiwodshaft, commonwealth, region, property, county, parish city, domain, tract, arrondissement, mofussil, commune, wappentake, hundred, riding, lathe, garth, soke, tithing, ward, precinct, bailiwick, command, empire, sway, rule, dominion, domination, sovereignty, supremacy, suzerainty, lordship, headship, chiefdom, seigniory, seigniority, rule, sway, command, control, administer, govern, lead, preside over, reign, possess the throne, be seated on the throne, occupy the throne, sway the scepter, wield the scepter, wear the crown, state, realm, body politic, posse comitatus, judicature, cabinet, seat of government, seat of authority, headquarters, accession, installation, politics, reign, regime, dynasty, directorship, dictatorship, protectorate, protectorship, caliphate, pashalic, electorate, presidency, presidentship, administration, proconsul, consulship, prefecture, seneschalship, magistrature, magistracy, monarchy, kinghood, kingship, royalty, regality, aristarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, demagogy, commonwealth, dominion, heteronomy, republic, republicanism, socialism, collectivism, mob law, mobocracy, ochlocracy, vox populi, imperium in imperio, bureaucracy, beadledom, bumbledom, stratocracy, military power, military government, junta, feodality, feudal system, feudalism, thearchy, theocracy, dinarchy, duarchy, triarchy, heterarchy, duumvirate, triumvirate, autocracy, autonomy, limited monarchy, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, home rule, representative government, monocracy, pantisocracy, gynarchy, gynocracy, gynaeocracy, petticoat government, legislature, judiciary, administration, office of the president, office of the prime minister, cabinet, senate, house of representatives, parliament, council, courts, supreme court, state, interior, labor, health and human services, defense, education, agriculture, justice, commerce, treasury, Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, National Institutes of Health, NIH, Postal Service, Post Office, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, president, vice president, cabinet member, prime minister, minister, senator, representatative, president pro tem, speaker of the house, department head, section head, section chief, federal judge, justice, justice of the supreme court, chief justice, treasurer, secretary of the treasury, director of the FBI, governor, state cabinet member, state senator, assemblyman, assemblywoman, regal, sovereign, governing, royal, royalist, monarchical, kingly, imperial, imperiatorial, princely, feudal, aristocratic, autocratic, oligarchic, republican, dynastic, ruling, regnant, gubernatorial, imperious, authoritative, executive, administrative, clothed with authority, official, departmental, ex officio, imperative, peremptory, overruling, absolute, hegemonic, hegemonical, authorized, government, public, national, federal, his majesty's, her majesty's, state, county, city, N, a dog's obeyed in office, cada uno tiene su alguazil, le Roi le veut, regibus esse manus en nescio longas, regnant populi, the demigod Authority, the right divine of kings to govern wrong, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Severity

N severity, strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, inclemency, arrogance, precisianism, arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism, dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression, assumption, usurpation, inquisition, reign of terror, martial law, iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway, tight grasp, brute force, brute strength, coercion, strong hand, tight hand, hard lines, hard measure, tender mercies, sharp practice, pipe-clay, officialism, tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, accipitres, birds of prey, raptorials, raptors, severe, strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative, coercive, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial, inclement, cruel, haughty, arrogant, precisian, severely, with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a heavy hand, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi, manu forti, ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.

Duty

N duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility, bounden duty, imperative duty, call, call of duty, accountability, allegiance, fealty, tie engagement, part, function, calling, morality, morals, decalogue, case of conscience, conscientiousness, conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego, the hell within, dueness, propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon, the thing, the proper thing, the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, ethics, ethology, deontology, aretology, moral philosophy, ethical philosophy, casuistry, polity, observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption, good behavior, obligatory, binding, imperative, peremptory, stringent, behooving, incumbent on, chargeable on, under obligation, obliged by, bound by, tied by, saddled with, due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to, tied down, compromised, in duty bound, amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable, right, meet, moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological, with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk, suo periculo, in foro conscientiae, quamdiu se bene gesserit, dura lex sed lex, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honos habet onus, leve fit quod bene fertur onus, loyaute m'oblige, simple duty bath no place for fear, stern daughter of the voice of God, there is a higher law than the Constitution.