impend
Americanverb (used without object)
-
impends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
impended,
past participle, past
-
impending
present participle
-
to be imminent; be about to happen.
-
to threaten or menace.
He felt that danger impended.
-
Archaic. to hang or be suspended; overhang (usually followed byover ).
verb
-
(esp of something threatening) to be about to happen; be imminent
-
rare (foll by over) to be suspended; hang
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
impendsimple
-
impendssimple
-
have impendedperfect
-
has impendedperfect
-
am impendingprogressive
-
are impendingprogressive
-
is impendingprogressive
-
have been impendingperfect progressive
-
has been impendingperfect progressive
Past
-
impendedsimple
-
had impendedperfect
-
was impendingprogressive
-
were impendingprogressive
-
had been impendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of impend
First recorded in 1580–90, impend is from the Latin word impendēre to hang over, threaten. See im- 1, pend
Explanation
When things impend, they are just about to happen. As you're heading into a haunted house, you might have the feeling that spooky noises and lurching monsters impend. While you're more likely to see the adjective form of this word, impending, used to describe something that's looming or coming up in the future, you can also use the verb impend when something is approaching or developing. You could say, for example, that winter impends when the leaves have all fallen off the trees and the temperature has dropped. The Latin root is impendere, "hang over or be imminent," from pendere, or "hang."
Vocabulary lists containing impend
Latin Love, Vol III: pendere
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
pend, pens, List 2
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Decline and disaster impend, but my thoughts don’t linger there.”
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2017
But "she was cognizant of the crises that impend in all human breasts" and considered that "innocent intimacy was preferable to unacknowledged proximity."
From Time Magazine Archive
An international incident seemed to impend when the Rumanian ghouls incautiously admitted that they had pulled the corpse this way and that, in an effort to find contraband goods in the coffin.
From Time Magazine Archive
Overhang, ō-vėr-hang′, v.t. to hang over: to project over: to impend: to overlade with ornamentation.—v.i. to hang over.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
I am too deeply distressed by the evils that afflict, or that may seem to impend over my people, not to have sought a means to prevent them.
From Louis Philippe Makers of History Series by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
Especially after Disher and Givens marry in Georgia, and a baby of likely mixed race impends, the musical pushes too hard toward tragedy, winding up well short at melodrama.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
And it being the middle of May mosquito season impends.
From US News ● May 13, 2016
Peril impends when a note comes announcing that her visit must be put off.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2011
Some businessmen already fear a depression impends over the U. S. The boat chuffed along the greening, creek-cut shore of Lake Champlain near Burlington, Vt., an afternoon last week.
From Time Magazine Archive
In stature, Bello was a mountaineer; but, as over some tall tower impends the hill-side cliff, so Bello's Athos hump hung over him.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Herman Melville
No title impended; it was primarily an affair of honor between two of the keenest match-playy golfers that ever cut a divot.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even in Havana labor was so disorderly that business paralysis impended.
From Time Magazine Archive
When Addison's Disease and its treatment came up for report at Philadelphia, a fight for glory impended.
From Time Magazine Archive
Talks important to Britain impended with the arrival of U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
After the departure of the detectives, the composure that had impressed Nye faltered; a familiar despair impended.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
While shop owners sandbagged the entrances to their stores and boarded up the doors and windows, there was little sense of impending disaster.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
Some economists worry about an impending artificial-intelligence job apocalypse, but so far there is no conclusive evidence that automation is killing lots of white-collar positions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
One story for Wakefield to thrive upon is the impending retirement of stalwart back-rower Jay Pitts.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
In the scene, set just before the events of 2002’s “Resident Evil,” executives at the diabolical Umbrella Corporation gather to discuss the world’s impending end.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
As if she knew of her impending fate, Ma gave Kim the backpack with her jewelry sown in the straps, as well as her favorite shirt, on his last visit to her.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
