Im-pē'ri-oüs, a.
(89), a. [Lat. imperiosus, It. & Sp. imperioso, Fr. impérieux. See IMPERIAL.]
Sense 1. Commanding; authoritative; especially in a bad sense, dictatorial; haughty; arrogant; overbearing; domineering; as, an imperious tyrant; an imperious dictator; an imperious man; an imperious temper.
His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon made him conspicuous. Macaulay.
Sense 2. Commanding; indicating an imperious temper; authoritative; as, imperious words. “Expect a message more *imperious.” Shak.
Sense 3. Authoritative; commanding with rightful authority.
The commandment high and imperious in its claims. D. A. Clarke.
Synonyms—Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly; tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative; 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 others feel their inferiority. “There is always something offensive in imperiousness; there is frequently something ludicrous in that which is lordly; and a mixture of the ludicrous and offensive in that which is domineering.” Crabb.
This imperious man will work us all From princes into pages. Shak.
How the sight Of me, as of a common enemy, So dreaded once, may now exasperate them I know not: lords are lordliest in their wine. Milton.
Go to the feast, revel, and domineer, Carouse full measure. Shak.