| / English Dictionary |
IMPULSE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of applying force suddenly
Example:
the impulse knocked him over
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("impulse" is a kind of...):
drive; driving force; thrust (the act of applying force to propel something)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An impelling force or strength
Example:
the car's momentum carried it off the road
Synonyms:
impulse; momentum
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("impulse" is a kind of...):
force; forcefulness; strength (physical energy or intensity)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The electrical discharge that travels along a nerve fiber
Example:
they demonstrated the transmission of impulses from the cortex to the hypothalamus
Synonyms:
impulse; nerve impulse; nervous impulse; neural impulse
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("impulse" is a kind of...):
electrical discharge (a discharge of electricity)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impulse"):
action potential (the local voltage change across the cell wall as a nerve impulse is transmitted)
Sense 4
Meaning:
(electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)
Example:
the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star
Synonyms:
impulse; pulsation; pulse; pulsing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Hypernyms ("impulse" is a kind of...):
undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)
Domain category:
electronics (the branch of physics that deals with the emission and effects of electrons and with the use of electronic devices)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A sudden desire
Example:
he bought it on an impulse
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("impulse" is a kind of...):
desire (the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state)
Sense 6
Meaning:
An instinctive motive
Example:
profound religious impulses
Synonyms:
impulse; urge
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("impulse" is a kind of...):
motivation; motive; need (the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impulse"):
abience ((psychology) an urge to withdraw or avoid a situation or an object)
adience ((psychology) an urge to accept or approach a situation or an object)
death instinct; death wish; Thanatos ((psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die)
itchy feet; wanderlust (very strong or irresistible impulse to travel)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (first person singular and plural, second person singular and plural, third person plural) of the verb impulse
Context examples:
The 11th cranial nerve, which sends motor impulses to the muscles of the upper thorax, back, shoulders, and pharynx.
(Accessory Nerve, NCI Thesaurus)
It allows nerve impulses to quickly move in 'tracts', which send messages between the different parts of the brain.
(Too Much Screen Time Changes Structure of Toddlers' Brains, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Any variation from the normal rate or rhythm (which may include the origin of the impulse and/or its subsequent propagation) in the heart.
(Arrhythmia, NCI Thesaurus)
At last, by a sudden impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We turned our heads, swayed by a common impulse to see the last of the Ghost.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
It was no reasoned impulse that stirred her to do what she then did.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
An electrocardiographic finding of an ectopic impulse originating in the atria and not specifically in the sinus node.
(Atrial Premature Complex by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
A procedure in which small electric impulses are used to stimulate muscles that are weak or paralyzed.
(NES, NCI Dictionary)
Indisposed to hesitate, and full of impatient impulses—soul and senses quivering with keen throes—I put it back and looked in.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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