impend

IPA/ɪmˈpend/
KK[ˌɪmpˈɛnd]IPA/ɪmˈpend/

impend — verb

  • impendpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • impends3rd person singular
  • impending-ing form
  • impendedpast simple

1. when something bad or difficult is about to happen, and you feel that it is comi

1.動詞不及物C1
釋義

when something bad or difficult is about to happen, and you feel that it is coming very soon — for example, a disaster, a storm, a war, or a difficult conversation that nobody wants to have

例句

Theo knew that a difficult talk with his boss impended after the failed project.

intransitive — event + impends, no direct object

With tensions rising along the border, the threat of armed conflict impended.

同義詞
  • loom

    more visual and dramatic — suggests something large and indistinct appearing on the horizon ('danger looms'); slightly less formal than impend

  • threaten

    more active — can take an object ('threatens to destroy the city') and implies a direct danger, while impend is more passive

  • be imminent

    more neutral — can describe both good and bad events ('their arrival is imminent'), whereas impend is limited to unpleasant ones

反義詞
  • recede

    to move away or become more distant, the opposite sense of a threat drawing near

  • fade

    to slowly disappear, describing a danger that passes rather than arrives

文法句型

event/subject + impends — no object

commonly used as participial adjective: impending + noun

用法筆記

The participial adjective form 'impending' (e.g., 'impending disaster,' 'impending doom') is far more common in everyday English than the bare verb. The subject of 'impend' must be an unpleasant or threatening event — it cannot describe neutral or positive situations.

常見錯誤

❌Our summer vacation impends next week.
✅Our summer vacation is coming up next week.
💡'impend' is only used for serious, unpleasant, or threatening events, never for positive or neutral ones.
❌The government impends new taxes.
✅New taxes impend.
💡'impend' is intransitive and never takes a direct object; the thing that is about to happen must be the subject.