Imperious means giving orders in an arrogant and domineering way. Expecting to be obeyed, and not asking.
It describes manner, gestures and tones, so an imperious wave and an imperious summons both take obedience for granted. The word comes from the same root as emperor and empire, which is exactly the flavour it carries. It is always a criticism. Take care with imperial, which simply means relating to an empire, and with impervious, which means unable to be penetrated and is a quite different word.
1adjectiveimperiousArrogantly commanding and expecting obedience.
“She summoned the waiter with an imperious gesture.”
The Latin is command, the same root that gives emperor. Imperious is handing out orders as if you were one.
hooks ontoemperor
Imperious has an empire inside it. Latin imperium meant command, authority or power, and imperiōsus meant mighty, so the word describes someone behaving as though they held one.
Latin
imperiōsus — mighty, powerful
English, today
imperious
Built from
From Latin imperiōsus (“mighty, powerful”), from imperium (“command, authority, power”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.
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