impulsion

noun

"impulsion" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“impulsion” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of impelling or driving onward, or the state of being impelled; the sudden or momentary agency of a body in motion on another body; also, the impelling force, or impulse.

Corpus desk

Index EN-impulsion · impulsion · English

impulsion · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "I" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for impulsion
PropertyValue
Headwordimpulsion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “impulsion” in English

impulsionranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

impulsion is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for impulsion, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English impulsioun, from Old French impulsion, from Latin impulsio, impulsionem. The correct English form is impulsion, spelled I-M-P-U-L-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of impelling or driving onward, or the state of being impelled; the sudden or momentary agency of a body in motion on another body; also, the impelling force, or impulse.
  2. 2
    Influence acting unexpectedly or temporarily on the mind; sudden motive or influence; impulse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how impulsion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I wrought like a fiend, for I expected every moment to be swamped; and since I found I could not push the coracle directly off, I now shoved straight astern. At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbour, and just as I gave the last impulsion, my hands came across a light cord that was trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks.
  2. Farther, Chrisostome upon this place saith, that Paule when he thus writeth, doth in no wise denie the nature of the flesh, but exalteth it to a more higher dignitie, namelie, that it should rather obaie the impulsion of the spirite, than lust.

Etymology

From Middle English impulsioun, from Old French impulsion, from Latin impulsio, impulsionem.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "impulsion"?
"impulsion" is spelled I-M-P-U-L-S-I-O-N.
What does "impulsion" mean?
As a noun, "impulsion" means: The act of impelling or driving onward, or the state of being impelled; the sudden or momentary agency of a body in motion on another body; also, the impelling force, or impulse.
What is the origin of the word "impulsion"?
From Middle English impulsioun, from Old French impulsion, from Latin impulsio, impulsionem. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list