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impulsive

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Acting suddenly without thinking first.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihmpuhlsiv

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪmˈpʌlsɪv

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Actuated by impulse or by transient feelings; inclined to make rapid decisions without due consideration.

  2. Having the power of driving or impelling; giving an impulse; moving; impellent.

noun

  1. One whose behaviour or personality is characterized by being impulsive.

  2. That which impels or gives an impulse; an impelling agent.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Actuated by impulse or by transient feelings; inclined to make rapid decisions without due consideration.

Used this way, impulsive is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: actuated by impulse or by transient feelings

capriciousimpetuous

noun

Sense: one whose behaviour

madcap

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.