impute
Americanverb (used with object)
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to attribute or ascribe.
The children imputed magical powers to the old woman.
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to attribute or ascribe (something discreditable), as to a person.
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Law. to ascribe to or charge (a person) with an act or quality because of the conduct of another over whom one has control or for whose acts or conduct one is responsible.
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Theology. to attribute (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to a person or persons vicariously; ascribe as derived from another.
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Obsolete. to charge (a person) with fault.
verb
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to attribute or ascribe (something dishonest or dishonourable, esp a criminal offence) to a person
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to attribute to a source or cause
I impute your success to nepotism
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commerce to give (a notional value) to goods or services when the real value is unknown
Synonym Usage
See attribute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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imputationnoun
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imputativenessnoun
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imputernoun
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nonimputablenessnoun
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nonimputativenessnoun
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imputableadjective
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imputativeadjective
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nonimputableadjective
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nonimputativeadjective
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unimputableadjective
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imputativelyadverb
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imputedlyadverb
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nonimputablyadverb
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nonimputativelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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imputesimple
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imputessimple
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have imputedperfect
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has imputedperfect
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am imputingprogressive
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are imputingprogressive
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is imputingprogressive
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have been imputingperfect progressive
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has been imputingperfect progressive
Past
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imputedsimple
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had imputedperfect
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was imputingprogressive
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were imputingprogressive
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had been imputingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of impute
1325–75; Middle English imputen < Latin imputāre, equivalent to im- im- 1 + putāre to assess, reckon, think; see putative
Explanation
The verb impute can be used to blame someone for doing something bad, give credit for good work, or just tell it like it is, like when you impute your lateness to my not telling you where to meet me. When you impute something, you name the cause of something that has happened. For example, you might impute your ability to sing well to the thousands of dollars your parents spent in voice lessons. In other words, you name the source. You can also impute a person, like imputing to a teacher your love of learning — he or she helped you become more interested in school and your classes.
Vocabulary lists containing impute
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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:
Justice Chandrachud said his comment on seeking divine guidance was because “I am a person of faith” and “to impute motives to judges is not right”.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2024
We can’t impute the human motives of revenge to creatures whose intelligence and emotions are funneled through an entirely different evolutionary scheme.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
To some listeners, though, he remains a toxic figure whose alleged misdeeds impute a moral if not a commercial stain on artists who continue to work with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
And it isn’t necessary to impute sophisticated depth to the works of Disney.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 6, 2022
“And do you impute it to either of those?”
From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
“Leave of absence still imputes the financial interests of the firm to him.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2020
The bureau imputes the characteristics of a small number of households in every census.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 6, 2020
He imputes ill motives to those who disagree with him.
From Washington Post ● May 9, 2018
Finally, this worldview imputes motives to the media that just aren’t there.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2016
Proclivities, founded on the ignorance or the vanity of a being who imputes to himself the merit or the demerit of a necessary instant.
From Diderot and the Encyclopædists Volume II. by Morley, John
Miran also questioned parts of the inflation data that rely on imputed prices rather than observed transactions, particularly in services.
From Barron's ● Dec. 15, 2025
However, the prosecution had also angered members of Paty's family by refusing to push for maximum sentences, and by downgrading the qualification of some of the imputed crimes.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2024
"If a family member endorses a publicly endorses a candidate for office, the code says it could be imputed to the judge," Alfini said.
From Salon ● May 17, 2024
"We still got a couple of weeks before the actual meeting, so if anybody imputed some specific basis points of what I was for, that’d be inaccurate," he said.
From Reuters ● Apr. 19, 2023
I struggled to understand his jest; and when I recognized what he imputed, my mother’s low condition, I knew not what to say.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
“At current trading levels, we estimate the stock is currently imputing lower LNG margins, minimal future growth, and/or additional negative arbitration outcomes beyond what the company has stated,” they wrote.
From Barron's ● Nov. 22, 2025
“The idea of imputing malice or intent to a machine — my own view is, we are not ready for that,” she said.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 13, 2023
But that’s as far as Skolimowski goes in imputing motives or desires to EO, apart from the basic compulsions to eat, rest and roam.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
Our "forefathers" would have laughed out loud if someone had told them that 200 years hence, Americans would be imputing intentions to them, to what at that time, would have been unheard-of situations.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2017
We should shrink from imputing an evil motive where any matter will bear an honourable interpretation.
From The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels by Burgon, John William
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.
