Impersonal means cold, and showing no human warmth. An impersonal letter, impersonal service, an impersonal building.
It is a complaint about the absence of individual attention: an impersonal reply could have been sent to anybody. Applied to forces it is neutral — the impersonal workings of the market. In grammar, an impersonal verb has no real subject, as in it is raining, where the it stands for nothing at all. Note impersonally; and personal, which does the opposite work.
1adjectiveimpersonalCold, and showing no human warmth.
“The hospital felt cold and impersonal, with long grey corridors and no one to talk to.”
2adjectiverealHaving no real subject, of a verb.
“Formal writing often uses impersonal verbs, as in 'It is believed that...'.”
impersonal is a quality of coldness.
Latin impersonalis is in- plus personalis, from persona, a mask worn by an actor. Person, personality and parson come from the same mask.
Latin
impersōnālis
French
impersonnel
English, today
impersonal
Built from
From French impersonnel, from Latin impersōnālis, from im- (“not”) + persōnālis (“personal”), equivalent to im + personal.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA