the imperative
noun
grammar
: the form that a verb or sentence has when it is expressing a command
"Eat your spinach!" is in the imperative.
Examples of the imperative in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And people might recall that as a result of that, the president dispatched Secretary Blinken and me to Mexico to meet with the president and members of his cabinet to speak of the imperative of funding the enforcement agency.
—
Steve Inskeep, NPR, 15 Jan. 2025
For leaders, the imperative is twofold: Invest with Precision: Focus on initiatives that unlock value from previous investments while building for the future.
—Peter Bendor-Samuel, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
As economists Myron Gorden and Jeffrey Rosenthal posit, the imperative for growth is a mandate of capitalism, which will always incentivize the exploitation of natural resources and labor to enact efficiency gains and greater profit.
—Aissa Dearing, JSTOR Daily, 9 Jan. 2025
And finally — and perhaps most significantly — the imperative to create force multipliers through strong, committed alliances and sharing between the U.S. and its Western allies, of which AUKUS is a good example.
—Colin Demarest, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for the imperative 
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Steve Inskeep, NPR, 15 Jan. 2025
For leaders, the imperative is twofold: Invest with Precision: Focus on initiatives that unlock value from previous investments while building for the future.
—Peter Bendor-Samuel, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
As economists Myron Gorden and Jeffrey Rosenthal posit, the imperative for growth is a mandate of capitalism, which will always incentivize the exploitation of natural resources and labor to enact efficiency gains and greater profit.
—Aissa Dearing, JSTOR Daily, 9 Jan. 2025
And finally — and perhaps most significantly — the imperative to create force multipliers through strong, committed alliances and sharing between the U.S. and its Western allies, of which AUKUS is a good example.
—Colin Demarest, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for the imperative
Dictionary Entries Near the imperative
Cite this Entry
“The imperative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20imperative. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
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