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   imperative

   /ɪmˈpɛrətɪv/

   adjective

   • 1. of vital importance; crucial: "immediate action was imperative" Similar vitally importantof vital importanceall-importantvitalcrucialcriticalessentialof the essencea matter of life and deathof great consequencenecessaryindispensableexigentpressingurgentrequiredcompulsorymandatoryobligatoryOpposite unimportantoptional
   • 2. giving an authoritative command; peremptory: "the bell pealed again, a final imperative call" Similar peremptorycommandingimperiousauthoritativemasterfullordlymagisterialautocraticdictatorialdomineeringoverbearingassertivefirminsistentbossyhigh-handedoverweeningOpposite submissive
   • ▪ denoting the mood of a verb that expresses a command or exhortation, as in come here!

   noun

   • 1. an essential or urgent thing: "free movement of labour was an economic imperative"
   • ▪ a factor or influence making something necessary: "the biological imperatives which guide male and female behaviour"
   • 2. a verb or phrase in the imperative mood.
   • ▪ the imperative mood.

   Word Origin late Middle English (as a grammatical term): from late Latin imperativus (literally ‘specially ordered’, translating Greek prostatikē enklisis ‘imperative mood’), from imperare ‘to command’, from in- ‘towards’ + parare ‘make ready’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. imperatival adjective
   • 2. imperatively adverb
   • 3. imperativeness noun

   Scrabble Points: 17

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