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impersonal - 5 dictionary results

im⋅per⋅son⋅al

[im-pur-suh-nl]
–adjective
1. not personal; without reference or connection to a particular person: an impersonal remark.
2. having no personality; devoid of human character or traits: an impersonal deity.
3. lacking human emotion or warmth: an impersonal manner.
4. Grammar.
a. (of a verb) having only third person singular forms and rarely if ever accompanied by an expressed subject, as Latin pluit “it is raining,” or regularly accompanied by an empty subject word, as English to rain in It is raining.
b. (of a pronoun or pronominal reference) indefinite, as French on “one.”
–noun
5. Grammar. an impersonal verb or pronoun.

Origin:
1510–20; < LL impersōnālis. See im- 2 , personal


im⋅per⋅son⋅al⋅ly, adverb
im·per·son·al   (ĭm-pûr'sə-nəl)   
adj.  
  1. Lacking personality; not being a person: an impersonal force.
    1. Showing no emotion or personality: an aloof, impersonal manner.
    2. Having no personal reference or connection: an impersonal remark.
    3. Not responsive to or expressive of human personalities: a large, impersonal corporation.
    4. Of, relating to, or being a verb that expresses the action of an unspecified subject, as in methinks, "it seems to me"; Latin pluit, "it rains"; or, with an expletive subject, it snowed.
    5. Indefinite. Used of pronouns.
  2. Grammar
    1. Of, relating to, or being a verb that expresses the action of an unspecified subject, as in methinks, "it seems to me"; Latin pluit, "it rains"; or, with an expletive subject, it snowed.
    2. Indefinite. Used of pronouns.
im·per'son·al'i·ty (-sə-nāl'ĭ-tē) n., im·per'son·al·ly adv.

Impersonal

Im*per"son*al\, a. [L. impersonalis; pref. im- not + personalis personal: cf. F. impersonnel. See Personal.] Not personal; not representing a person; not having personality.

An almighty but impersonal power, called Fate. --Sir J. Stephen.

Impersonal verb (Gram.), a verb used with an indeterminate subject, commonly, in English, with the impersonal pronoun it; as, it rains; it snows; methinks (it seems to me). Many verbs which are not strictly impersonal are often used impersonally; as, it goes well with him.

Impersonal

Im*per"son*al\, n. That which wants personality; specifically (Gram.), an impersonal verb.
Language Translation for : impersonal
Spanish: impersonal,
German: unpersönlich,
Japanese: 無感情の

impersonal 
1520, a grammatical term, from L.L. impersonalis, from in- "not" + personalis "personal." Sense of "not connected with any person" is from 1630; that of "not endowed with personality" is from 1842.
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