impingement

American  

[im-pinj-muhnt] / ɪmˈpɪndʒ mənt /

noun

1. the act or fact of encroaching or infringing.

   This is an impingement on the fundamental right of free speech.

2. the act or fact of striking or touching something, or the effect produced by this.

   The impingement on the diamond’s hard crystal surface is due to oxygen in the air.

3. Medicine/Medical. the act or fact of interfering with something, especially a nerve, through contact or pressure.

   Impingement on the nerves can be relieved by removing the portion of the bone compressing the neural structures.

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Etymology

Origin of impingement

impinge ( def. ) + -ment ( def. )

Example Sentences

Terry has a chronic hip impingement, the Ducks revealed Thursday in their postseason injury report.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026

Sasaki went to the sideline in early May with a right shoulder impingement and wasn’t reactivated until the final week of the season — as a reliever.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 5, 2025

“The stuff was good,” Roberts said of Kopech, out since the start of the year because of a shoulder impingement.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2025

Roberts said postgame that Sasaki’s been shut down for the foreseeable future as the team treats his right-shoulder impingement.

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2025

They furnish a point of impingement in articulation, and play their part in sympathetic resonance.

From Resonance in Singing and Speaking by Fillebrown, Thomas