impulse

A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.

Noun

  1. A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.
    • c. 1715-1716, Samuel Clarke, letter to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse.
  2. A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action.
    • The impulse to learn drove me to study night and day.
    • When I saw the new book, I couldn't resist the impulse to browse through it.
    • Theſe were my natural Impulses for the undertaking: […] - 1685, John Dryden, transl., “Preface”, in Sylvæ: Or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC; reprinted Menston,...
  3. The integral of force over time.
    • The total impulse from the impact will depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile.

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French impulser, from Latin impulsus.

Forms

impulses

Related

impel impulsion impulsive impulsively impulsiveness impulsivity impulsor pulse

Derived

counterimpulse impulse-buy impulse buy impulse buyer impulse buying impulse control disorder impulse function impulse good impulseless impulse noise impulse purchase impulse response nerve impulse on an impulse on impulse specific impulse

Verb

  1. To impel; to incite.
    • With that force so impulsed and prest they are carried under the deepe Ocean. - 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC,...

Forms

impulses impulsing impulsed