Meaning

2 senses
  1. (transitive)To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation.

    antreiben, vorantreiben, treiben

    побужда́тьpobuždátʹ

    urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate

  2. (transitive)To drive forward; to propel an object, to provide an impetus for motion or action.

    The wind impelled the kayaks toward the shore.

    приводи́ть в движе́ниеprivodítʹ v dvižénije

Examples

4 sentences
  1. It was hunger that impelled him to crime.

  2. The wind and tide impelled the ship to the shore.

  3. Empathy impels us to feel other people's pain and to align their interests with our own.

  4. What is it that impels people to vote for the FDP?

    deWas treibt die Leute eigentlich dazu, die FDP zu wählen? — BraveSentry

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · niceguydave · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

5 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation:
To drive forward; to propel an object:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
To urge a person; to press on; to incite to action or motion via intrinsic motivation:

Origin

From Middle English impellen, borrowed from Latin impellō.

From Middle English impellen, borrowed from Latin impellō.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

impels, impelling, impelled, impelled
Base formimpel · to impel
3rd person singularimpels
Present participleimpelling
Past simpleimpelled
Past participleimpelled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyimpel
he, she, itimpels

Past simpleLesson

all personsimpelled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave impelled
he, she, ithas impelled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill impel

Synonyms

54 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate:force
  • cause to move forward with force:propel

Antonyms

47 antonyms

Word family

8 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
impel — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto