Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To attack as false or questionable; challenge in argument.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To attack by words or arguments; contradict; assail; call in question; gainsay.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To attack by words or arguments; to contradict; to assail; to call in question; to make insinuations against; to gainsay; to oppose.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive, obsolete To
assault ,attack . - verb transitive To verbally
assault , especially to argue against an opinion, motive, or action; to question the truth or validity of.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb attack as false or wrong
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Wunderman said he didn't want to "impugn" the motives of officials in those cities, acknowledging they were serving the needs of their constituents.
Jacksonville Business News - Local Jacksonville News | Jacksonville Business Journal 2010
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"impugn" Mr Needham under parliamentary privilege, the CMC was proving its independence by holding a public inquiry into a former ministerial staffer.
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"impugn" Mr Needham under parliamentary privilege, the CMC was proving its independence by holding a public inquiry into a former ministerial staffer.
unknown title 2009
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"impugn" Mr Needham under parliamentary privilege, the CMC was proving its independence by holding a public inquiry into a former ministerial staffer.
unknown title 2009
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"impugn" Mr Needham under parliamentary privilege, the CMC was proving its independence by holding a public inquiry into a former ministerial staffer.
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The narrator doesn't impugn the behavior of man who fired his father for falling asleep on the job.
Richard B. Woodward: We The Animals: Novel Of The Year? Richard B. Woodward 2011
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The narrator doesn't impugn the behavior of man who fired his father for falling asleep on the job.
Richard B. Woodward: We The Animals: Novel Of The Year? Richard B. Woodward 2011
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I don't think it's useful to impugn her motives; I think it's more useful to address her argument.
GUEST POST: Jennifer Brissett Weighs in on the Writer Pay Rate Flap 2009
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The narrator doesn't impugn the behavior of man who fired his father for falling asleep on the job.
Richard B. Woodward: We The Animals: Novel Of The Year? Richard B. Woodward 2011
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The narrator doesn't impugn the behavior of man who fired his father for falling asleep on the job.
Richard B. Woodward: We The Animals: Novel Of The Year? Richard B. Woodward 2011
sonofgroucho commented on the word impugn
Great word: not used nearly often enough. I feel as if it should be connected with impunity, but it doesn't seem to be.
November 11, 2007
Dan337 commented on the word impugn
It appears (from, e.g., almost every sentence cited on the first page of usage examples for “impune”*) that almost every person who writes the word “impune” in English intends the word “impugn”.* The only two exceptions use the word in the Latin† motto “Nemo me impune lacessit” (or a fragment thereof).
† That is to say the language of the motto is Latin; it’s the motto of the Order of the Thistle, a chivalric order associated with Scotland.
January 6, 2011