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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > IMPETUOUS

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pronounce IMPETUOUS:

im PET chew us
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connect this word to others:

Today we're checking out the feisty word impetuous, a close cousin of words like compete, appetite, petition, impetus, and centripetal.

Inside all those words, you can glimpse the Latin petere, which, as I've noted before, has tons of meanings, including "to go to, to rush at, to attack, to ask for, to strive for, to seek, to demand, to require, and to beg." 

Today we're focusing on petere's sense of "attack," the idea behind the word impetuous, which describes people who seem to lash out or make hasty choices, seeming to attack things and people around them instead of slowing down to think of a more rational course of action.

See if you can recall three more words that trace back to petere, not in the sense of "attack" but rather "ask, want, or beg for:"

1. Originally meaning "lusty" but today meaning "cranky and sulky, like a toddler in need of nap:" pet___nt.

2. Originally meaning "striving together" but today meaning "skilled and able to perform the job:" c__pete__.

3. Literally "a seeking through (all time)" or "an aiming through (all time)", today it means "forever:" p__pet__ty.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

definition:

The word "impetuous" traces back through French to the Latin impetus, meaning "an attack," and more literally "an aiming into, a rushing upon."

So, things that are impetuous in a literal sense are moving in a fast, forceful, violent way, as if they're attacking.

And people and things that are impetuous in a looser sense are acting or speaking in a fast, forceful way, as if driven to attack by strong emotions.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "an impetuous decision;" "Their decision was impetuous."

Other forms: 

The adverb is "impetuously," as in "They made that decision impetuously."

And if you need a noun, you can pick between "impetuosity" and "impetuousness," as in "They probably regret their impetuosity."

how to use it:

Pick the formal, semi-common, mildly critical word "impetuous" to describe people who should have slowed down to think before acting.

You might talk about an impetuous person or their impetuous personality, desire, impulse, speed, movement, choice, comment, outburst, or tone of voice.

Feelings, too, can be impetuous if they come on suddenly and spur unthinking actions. You might talk about someone's impetuous anger, zeal, or jealousy.

examples:

"The rock which it meets with in its course turns the impetuous river from the way it was pursuing, even when it comes down in all the fury of the mountain torrent." 
  — G. P. R. James, Esq., Henry of Guise, 1839

"Harmon was a notoriously impetuous showrunner during Community's heyday at NBC, and was fired from the show in 2012. A 2014 behind-the-scenes documentary often showed him berating his girlfriend and friends."
  — Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Verge, 3 January 2018

has this page helped you understand "impetuous"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.




study it:

Explain the meaning of "impetuous" without saying "rash" or "unthinking."

try it out:

In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson contrasted "the impetuous and heedless pace of man" with "the deliberate pace of nature," saying that humans have essentially trashed their own environment much faster than it can untrash itself.

Could you explain what she means by humanity's pace being "impetuous," and maybe give some examples of things that the human race has done that show our impetuosity?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fragments.

In each issue, check out an excerpt from a master of American prose, one in which I've changed the lovely sentence fragments into ugly but grammatically correct sentences. Try restoring the excerpt to its original glory by chiseling those sentences down into fragments.

You can check out some examples here.

Try this one today. It's from Herman Melville's Moby-Dick:

Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some are leaning against the spiles; some are seated upon the pier-heads; some are looking over the bulwarks glasses! of ships from China; some are high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster— tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?

To see the original version, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A close opposite of IMPETUOUS is

A. CIRCUMSCRIBED: limited in a narrow way, as if kept within a strict circle.
B. CIRCUMLOCUTORY: wordy and indirect, talking around in circles instead of going straight to the point.
C. CIRCUMSPECT: careful and watchful, as if looking all around, making sure you think about everything carefully before you act.

2. Friar Lawrence warns Romeo against impetuosity, saying "_____."

A. Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast
B. Within the infant rind of this weak flower / Poison hath residence and medicine power
C. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift; / Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift




Answers to the review questions:
1. C
2. A

From the game: There are lots of different ways to render each highlighted bit into a fragment! If your version pleases your ears, then you did great.

Here's the original version:

Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks glasses! of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster— tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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