impetus
IM-puh-tuhs/ˈɪm.pə.təs/
- 1The force or energy that a body in motion carries, or more generally anything that acts as a stimulus.
The runaway cart kept rolling under its own impetus until it hit the fence.
The factory closure gave fresh impetus to the campaign for new local jobs.
UsageCommon in give impetus to, gain impetus, the impetus for change.
Less common meaning
- 2In medieval physics, a principle of motive force within Aristotelian dynamics, introduced by John Philoponus and equated by John Buridan with weight times velocity; a precursor of inertia, momentum, and acceleration.
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Origin
The verb impetō ("to rush upon, attack"), a compound of in- ("upon") and petō ("to seek, fall upon"), produced the Latin noun impetus. In Latin that noun meant "an attack, assault, onset" or "a rushing upon," and English borrowed it unchanged.