impel
verb (used with object)
to drive or urge forward; press on; incite or constrain to action.
was impelling
-
past progressiveof impel.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
He was excited and something was impelling him to become more excited.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
While I gazed at the water, and watched the waves rushing up to my feet, I felt, all at once, as though an unseen power was impelling me to look up.
From Old Mission Stories of California by Charles Franklin Carter
That was the last straw; for I thought that some dreadful fascination was impelling my friend to hurl himself out!
From The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer
It now, perhaps, struck Miriam that her mental disquietude was impelling her to an undue vivacity; for she paused, and turned away from the picture, without saying a word more about it.
From The Marble Faun - Volume 1 The Romance of Monte Beni by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The crop-headed boy, by means of one ringer, was impelling the complicated machine towards the lift by which he had arrived.
From The Sleeper Awakes A Revised Edition of When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
