imperious Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
    overbearing; haughty; swaggering; prideful; lordly; disdainful; supercilious; sniffy.
    • some economists are disdainful of their colleagues in other social disciplines
    • haughty aristocrats
    • his lordly manners were offensive
    • walked with a prideful swagger
    • very sniffy about breaches of etiquette
    • his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air
    • a more swaggering mood than usual"- W.L.Shirer

WordNet

Im*pe"ri*ous adjective
Etymology
L. imperiosus: cf. F. impérieux. See Imperial.
Definitions
  1. Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. Obs. "A vast and imperious mind." Tilloison.
    Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness, Imperious. Shak.
  2. Haughly; arrogant; overbearing; as, an imperious tyrant; an imperious manner.
    This imperious man will work us all From princes into pages. Shak.
    His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon made him conspicuous. Macaulay.
  3. Imperative; urgent; compelling.
    Imperious need, which can not be withstood. Dryden.
    Syn. -- Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly; tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative; authoritative; commanding; pressing. -- Imperious, Lordly, Domineering. One who is imperious exercises his authority in a manner highly offensive for its spirit and tone; one who is lordly assumes a lofty air in order to display his importance; one who is domineering gives orders in a way to make other feel their inferiority.

Webster 1913