imperial

From Middle English imperial, from Old French imperial, from Latin imperiālis (“of the empire or emperor, imperial”), from imperium (“empire, imperial government”) + -ālis, from imperō (“command, order”), from im- (“form of in”) + parō (“prepare, arrange; intend”). Displaced Old English cāserlīċ.

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɪə.ɹi.əl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɪɹ.i.əl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

imperial (comparative more imperial, superlative most imperial)

1. Related to an empire, emperor, or empress.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     the imperial diadem of Rome

2. Relating to the British imperial system of measurement.
   • 2023, Patrick Lejtenyi, Food price perception can depend on whether it is measured in imperial or metric, according to new Concordia research‎^[1], Concordia University News:

     Using imperial units such as pounds makes fresh produce look cheaper than it really is, and it might be luring consumers away from frozen produce, which could possibly provide the same nutritional benefits at lower cost.

3. Very grand or fine.
4. Of special, superior, or unusual size or excellence.
5. (in particular, of alcohol) Stronger than typical. (Derived from the name of Russian Imperial stout, a strong dark beer.)

   Imperial pale ale, Imperial IPA, Imperial pilsner, Imperial milk stout, Imperial lager, Imperial mead

• (humorous): in old money

imperial (countable and uncountable, plural imperials)

1. A bottle of wine (usually Bordeaux) containing 6 liters of fluid, eight times the volume of a standard bottle.
2. (paper, printing) A writing paper size measuring 30 × 22 inches, or printing paper measuring 32 × 22 inches.
3. (card games, uncountable) A card game differing from piquet in some minor details, and in having a trump.
4. (card games, countable) Any of several combinations of cards which score in this game.
5. A crown imperial.
   • 1816, John Freeman Milward Dovaston, The Sonnet:

     There are who say the sonnet's meted maze
     Is all too fettered for the poet's powers,
     Compelled to crowd his flush and airy flowers
     Like pots of tall imperials, ill at ease.

6. A tuft of hair on the lower lip (so called from its use by Napoleon III).

   Synonym: royal

7. A kind of dome, as in Moorish buildings.
8. (historical) An outside or roof seat on a diligence or carriage.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 134–135:

     ...and she was just in time to see Mr. Boyne Sillery hand her aunt into a carriage, jump in himself, when it drove off with a rapidity which scarcely allowed her to observe that a large imperial was on the top, and her aunt's servant, with a huge bandbox, on the dickey.

9. (historical) A suitcase or trunk designed to be transported on the roof of a carriage.
   • 1818, Thomas Love Peacock, chapter 3, in Nightmare Abbey, Hookham, published 1818:

     [T]he imperials were packed, and the post-chariot was at the door.

10. (countable, uncountable) A variety of green tea.

• A champagne or Burgundy wine bottle with the same volume would be called a methuselah.

• Palmieri

Borrowed from Latin imperiālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [im.pə.ɾiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [im.pe.ɾiˈal]

imperial m or f (masculine and feminine plural imperials)

1. imperial

• imperialisme
• imperialista

• emperador
• imperi

• “imperial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “imperial”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “imperial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “imperial” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

imperial m or f (plural imperiais)

1. imperial

• imperialismo
• imperialista

• imperio

• “imperial”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

From Dutch imperiaal, from French impérial, from Latin imperiālis.

• IPA^(key): /ɪmpɛˈrial/
• Rhymes: -al, -l
• Hyphenation: im‧pè‧ri‧al

impèrial (comparative lebih imperial, superlative paling imperial)

1. imperial

• “imperial” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• inperial, imperyal, inperyal, imperyall, imperiall, emperiall, empirial

Borrowed from Old French imperial, emperial, from Latin imperiālis; equivalent to emperie +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /impɛriˈaːl/, /imˈpɛːrial/, /ɛm-/

imperial (plural and weak singular imperiale)

1. Imperial; related to or being of an empire or its ruler.
2. Befitting or appropriate for someone of imperial rank; superb.
3. Unsurpassed, unmatched; lacking an equal or equivalent.

• English: imperial
• Scots: imperial

• “imperiā̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 March 2019.

Learned borrowing from Latin imperiālis. By surface analysis, império +‎ -al.

• Hyphenation: im‧pe‧ri‧al

imperial m or f (plural imperiais)

1. imperial

imperial f (plural imperiais)

1. (Portugal, regional) draft beer

   Synonyms: (Portugal, regional) fino, (Brazil) chope

   • 2013, Afonso Cruz, Alice Vieira, André Gago, Catarina Fonseca, David Machado, Isabel Stidwell, José Fanha, A misteriosa mulher da ópera, Leya, →ISBN, page 155:

     «Traga-me mais uma imperial», disse eu ao empregado. Tinha uma praticamente cheia, mas não gosto de ser apanhado desprevenido. O Juvenal julgou que era para ele e agradeceu, eu disse-lhe «nada», e peguei na imperial, passei as ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “imperial”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from French impérial and Latin imperiālis. By surface analysis, imperiu +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /ˌim.pe.riˈal/

imperial m or n (feminine singular imperială, masculine plural imperiali, feminine and neuter plural imperiale)

1. imperial

• imperialism
• imperiu
• împărat

imperial (comparative mair imperial, superlative maist imperial)

1. imperial

Borrowed from Latin imperiālis (“of the empire or emperor, imperial”), from imperium (“empire, imperial government”) + -ālis, from imperō (“command, order”), from im- (“form of in”) + parō (“prepare, arrange; intend”).

• IPA^(key): /impeˈɾjal/ [ĩm.peˈɾjal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: im‧pe‧rial

imperial m or f (masculine and feminine plural imperiales)

1. imperial

• “imperial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024