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Another word for impetus

a-z
Noun

  1. Something that causes and encourages a given response

      1. Something that encourages
      2. An encouraging or being encouraged
      3. One that encourages.
      1. The snap made by a finger which is held down toward the palm by the thumb and then suddenly released
      2. Something that excites or stimulates.
      3. A light blow or tap given in this way
      1. A sudden inclination to act, usually without premeditation
      2. (Mech.) The change in momentum effected by a force, measured by multiplying the average value of the force by the time during which it acts
      3. A sudden wish or urge that prompts an unpremeditated act or feeling; an abrupt inclination:
      1. Something, such as the fear of punishment or the expectation of reward, that induces action or motivates effort.
      2. Something that stimulates one to take action, work harder, etc.; stimulus
      1. (Law) An introductory statement of facts or background information.
      2. (Shipping) The act of placing a port on a vessel's itinerary because the volume of cargo offered at that port justifies the cost of routing the vessel.
      3. (Law) Misrepresentation that leads a person to enter into a contract or transaction with a false understanding of the risks and obligations:
      1. The act or an instance of motivating
      2. Desire or enthusiasm to accomplish or achieve something
      3. The act or process of motivating:
      1. Used as a disparaging term for a Protestant.
      2. Something that prods; specif., a rod or pointed stick used in driving cattle
      3. An incitement; a stimulus.
      1. The act of pressing:
      2. A thing to be pushed so as to work a mechanism
      3. A provocation to action; a stimulus:
      1. A spinelike process, as on the wings or legs of certain birds
      2. Any of various pointed devices worn on the heel by the rider of a horse and used to urge the horse forward
      3. Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
      1. A food or drink, especially an alcoholic drink, believed to have a stimulating effect.
      2. A substance that acts to increase physiological or nervous activity in the body.
      3. A stimulus or an incentive:
      1. A person, device or substance that stimulates.
      1. Government spending designed to generate or increase economic activity.
      2. An agent, action, or condition that elicits or accelerates a physiological or psychological activity or response.
      3. (Physiol., Psychol.) Any action or agent that causes or changes an activity in an organism, organ, or part, as something that excites an end organ, starts a nerve impulse, or activates a muscle
    See also:

    cause

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for impetus

Noun
      1. A person or group capable of influential action:
      2. A capacity for affecting the mind or behavior; efficacy:
      3. The use of physical power or violence to compel or restrain:
      1. The act of impelling or the condition of being impelled:
      2. Movement or tendency to move resulting from this force; impetus
      3. An impelling force
      1. A spinelike process, as on the wings or legs of certain birds
      2. A sharp metal device attached as a weapon to the leg of a gamecock in a cockfight
      3. (Bot.) A slender, tubelike structure formed by a basal extension of one or more petals or sepals, often serving as a nectar receptacle; calcar
      1. An agent, action, or condition that elicits or accelerates a physiological or psychological activity or response.
      2. (Physiol., Psychol.) Any action or agent that causes or changes an activity in an organism, organ, or part, as something that excites an end organ, starts a nerve impulse, or activates a muscle
      3. Government spending designed to generate or increase economic activity.
    See also:

    incentive

    purpose

    reason

© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • It is well established that Urban preached the sermon at Clermont which gave the impetus to the crusades.

  • This discovery gave a new impetus to prospecting in south-western Nevada, and it was soon discovered that the district was not an isolated mining region but was in the heart of a great mineral belt.

  • No greater impetus than this could have been given to Van Buren's candidacy for the vice-presidency.

  • Lannes was checked, and with his repulse the impetus of the attack died out all along the line.

  • A fresh impetus to commerce was given by the opening in 1910 of the railway from Tongking, a line built by French engineers and with French capital.

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Words that mention impetus in the Dictionary

Words near impetus in the Thesaurus