Impulsive

How to spell impulsive

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce impulsive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does impulsive mean?

1. adjectiveTending to act suddenly and without careful thought or planning.
2. adjectiveActing as a sudden propelling force, especially one applied over a very short time.

Impulsive in a sentence

• Booking the flight on a whim was an impulsive decision she later regretted.

• The engineer modelled the collision as an impulsive force lasting only milliseconds.

• His impulsive spending left almost nothing in the savings account by month's end.

• The bat delivered an impulsive blow that sent the ball over the fence.

Where does impulsive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb impellere, meaning 'to drive forward' or 'to push against', formed from the prefix in- (here meaning 'in' or 'toward') and pellere, 'to push or drive'. The past participle stem gave impulsus, the source of 'impulse', and Late Latin then produced impulsivus to describe something that drives or urges. English took it in during the 1400s, partly through the French impulsif, at first in a mechanical sense of a force that propels. Over time the meaning shifted inward to describe people driven by sudden inner urges rather than by careful thought. The same pellere root pushes through a whole family of relatives, including 'compel', 'expel', and 'propel', and remembering that shared 'puls' core helps fix the single 's' and the spelling of this word.

How the word is built

• im- (in, toward)
• puls (drive, push, from Latin pellere)
• -ive (adjective suffix)