imperious

/ɪmˈpɪɹ.i.əs/adjective

imperious is spelled I-M-P-E-R-I-O-U-S: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, imperious means “Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in imperious?

Letters	9: I-M-P-E-R-I-O-U-S
Syllables	4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing	about once in every 2 million words; the 43,663rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched	none measured in search
Rhymes with	mysterious deleterious

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is imperious?

Imperious appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form in the list.

imperious0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce imperious?

UK /ɪmˈpɪə̯.ɹi.əs/
US /ɪmˈpɪɹ.i.əs/

Imperious has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-imperious.ogg, En-au-imperious.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with imperious?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as imperious from its last stressed vowel (/ɪɹiəs/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

What does imperious mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

1
Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing.
2
Urgent; intensely compelling.
3
obsoleteImperial or regal.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Imperious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	impérieux (domineering, overbearing)
German	herrisch, gebieterisch, autoritär (domineering, overbearing), königlich, majestätisch (imperial or regal)
Portuguese	imperioso (domineering, overbearing), imperial (imperial or regal)
Spanish	imperioso (domineering, overbearing)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does imperious come from?

From Latin imperiōsus (“mighty, powerful”), from imperium (“command, authority, power”).