imposition

From Middle English imposicioun, from Old French imposicion, from Latin impositio.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɪm.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

    (file)

• (India) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpoː.zɪ.ʃən/

imposition (countable and uncountable, plural impositions)

1. The act of imposing, laying on, affixing, enjoining, inflicting, obtruding, and the like.
2. An unwelcome burden, presence, or obligation.
   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:

     They gathered soberly in the farthest recess of the ward and gossiped about him in malicious, offended undertones, rebelling against his presence as a ghastly imposition and resenting him malevolently for the nauseating truth of which he was bright reminder.

   • 1991 May 4, Mary Dowd, “Risky Business”, in Gay Community News, page 7:

     He expunges his own anguish at his diagnosis with HIV and the impositions that have claimed his freedom.

3. That which is imposed, levied, or enjoined.
4. A trick or deception put or laid on others.
5. (printing) Arrangement of a printed product’s pages on the printer's sheet so as to have the pages in proper order in the final product.
6. (religion) A practice of laying hands on a person in a religious ceremony; used e.g. in confirmation and ordination.
7. (UK, school or university slang) A task imposed on a student as punishment.

   Synonym: impot

• (act of imposing and the like): imposure, infliction, obtrusion
• (that which is imposed, levied, or enjoined): burden, charge, enjoinder, injunction, tax
• (trick or deception put or laid on others): cheating, deception, delusion, fraud, imposture, trick

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “imposition”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “imposition”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Learned borrowing from Latin impositiō.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.po.zi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

imposition f (plural impositions)

1. imposition
2. taxation

   Synonym: taxation

• imposer
• impôt

• “imposition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

imposition

1. alternative form of imposicioun