Impinge
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɪmˈpɪndʒ/
Origin
From Latin impingÅ ("dash against, impinge").
Full definition of impinge
Verb
- (transitive, now rare) To make a physical impact (on); to collide, to crash (upon).
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. 1, New York Review Books 2001, p. 287:The ordinary rocks upon which such men do impinge and precipitate themselves, are cards, dice, hawks, and hounds ....
- (intransitive, figuratively) To interfere with; to encroach (on, upon).
- 2006, Summer, Keith R. Fisher, Toward a Basal Tenth Amendment: A Riposte to National Bank Preemption of State Consumer Protection Laws, It is astonishing that the meaning of a single declarative sentence enshrined in the Bill of Rights has evaded judicial construction establishing, at a minimum, some bedrock level of state sovereignty upon which the federal government can not impinge.
- (intransitive) To have an effect upon; to limit.
- 1913, w, Lord Stranleigh Abroad Chapter 4, “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …â€
Usage notes
The transitive use is less common, not included in many small dictionaries, and not favored by Garner's Modern American Usage (2009).