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Origin and history of impressive

impressive(adj.)

1590s, "capable of being easily impressed" (a sense now rare or obsolete), from impress (v.1) + -ive. Meaning "capable of making an impression on the mind or senses, tending to excite attention and feeling" is from 1775. Related: Impressively; impressiveness.

Entries linking to impressive

late 14c., impressen, "have a strong effect on the mind or heart, stamp deeply in the mind;" also literal, "make a permanent image in," from Old French empresser and directly from Latin impressus, past participle of imprimere "press into or upon, stamp," also figurative, from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress" (from PIE root *per- (4) "to strike"). Related: Impressed; impressing.

1715, "unable to receive impression;" by 1778 as "making or leaving no impression;" see un- "not" + impressive. Related: Unimpressively; unimpressiveness.

word-forming element making adjectives from verbs, meaning "pertaining to, tending to; doing, serving to do," in some cases from Old French -if, but usually directly from Latin adjectival suffix -ivus (source also of Italian and Spanish -ivo). In some words borrowed from French at an early date it has been reduced to -y (as in hasty, tardy).

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