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impersonal

 - 3 dictionary results

im⋅per⋅son⋅al

  [im-pur-suh-nl]
Use impersonal in a Sentence
–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

Related forms:
im⋅per⋅son⋅al⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To impersonal
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.

  3. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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