impression - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-Indo-European *per-?

Proto-Italic *pres-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

English impression

From Old French impression, from Latin impressio. Equivalent to impress +‎ -ion.

impression (countable and uncountable, plural impressions)

  1. The indentation or depression made by the pressure of one object on or into another.
    His head made an impression on the pillow.
  2. The overall effect of something, e.g., on a person.
    Synonym: take
    He tried to make a good impression on his parents.
    • 1805, Henry Kett, “Conclusion”, in Elements of General Knowledge, Introductory to Useful Books in the Principal Branches of Literature and Science. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: […] [T]he Press of H. Maxwell, for F. Nichols, […], and J. A. Cummings, […], pages 387–388:
      Their empires, triumphs, conquests, and projects, have left little impression behind them, notwithstanding the attention they once attracted, and the violent convulsions which they caused in the state of the world.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
    • 2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page x:
      Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.
  3. A vague recalling of an event, a belief.
    I have the impression that he's already left for Paris.
  4. An impersonation, an imitation of the mannerisms of another individual.
  5. An outward appearance.
  6. (Internet) A performance metric representing an instance where a post or ad is shown once.
    • 2010, Dusty Reagan, Twitter Application Development For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 329:
      Publishers are paid for each ad impression their site generates.
  7. (painting) The first coat of colour, such as the priming in house-painting etc.
  8. (engraving) A print on paper from a wood block, metal plate, etc.
  9. (philosophy) The vivid perception of something as it is experienced, in contrast to ideas or thoughts drawn from memory or the imagination.
    • 1748, David Hume, “Of the Origin of Ideas”, in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding:
      Let us, therefore, use a little freedom, and call them Impressions; employing that word in a sense somewhat different from the usual. By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned.
  10. (printing) set of copies of a publication printed at one time having the same content, layout, pagination, etc.

indentation or depression made by pressure

overall effect of something

impersonation

outward appearance

advertising performance metric

painting: first coat of colour

philosophy: vivid perception of something as it is experienced

impression (third-person singular simple present impressions, present participle impressioning, simple past and past participle impressioned)

  1. To manipulate a blank key within a lock so as to mark it with impressions of the shape of the lock, which facilitates creation of a duplicate key.
    • 2007, Graham Pulford, High-Security Mechanical Locks: An Encyclopedic Reference, page 55:
      The trick in impressioning a key is to remove only a small amount of the blank, by filing or cutting, from the pin positions where impressions have been left.

Borrowed from Latin impressiōnem.

impression f (plural impressions)

  1. an impression, the overall effect of something
  2. the indentation or depression made by the pressure of one object on another
  3. a print, print-out