impression
Pluralimpressions
Verbimpressions, impressioning, impressioned
Pluralimpressions
Formsimpressions, impressioning, impressioned
- 1The overall effect that a person, thing, or experience has on someone's mind or feelings.
Like the aftertaste a good meal leaves once the plate is cleared.
His confident handshake created a positive first impression.
The museum's grand entrance left a lasting impression on every visitor.
Similartake
Note
Here the pressing happens on a mind rather than a pillow, and the verbs it takes are worth learning. You make an impression on someone. A thing leaves an impression; Henry Kett in 1805 writes of empires that "left little impression behind them". A writer may give the impression that something is true. In casual speech, take covers some of the same ground.
- 2A vague recollection of an event, or a belief held without firm certainty.
Like remembering a dream: the shape is there but the details slip away.
Her impression of the meeting was that nothing had really been decided.
I was under the impression that the train left at noon.
Similarfeeling, sense, notion, idea, belief
Note
A belief held loosely, usually followed by a that-clause: I have the impression that he's already left. The phrasing softens a claim. It lets a speaker report what they think without vouching for it. The effect someone makes runs outward from a thing to an observer, but this one sits inside the person who holds it.
- 3A mark, dent, or hollow left in a surface by the pressure of one object pressing into it.
Like a fossil: the shape stays pressed in long after the thing itself is gone.
The dentist took an impression of her teeth before fitting the crown.
Each key press left a faint impression on the wax tablet.
Similarimprint, mark, indentation, dent, mold
Note
The literal sense the rest grow from. The word came through Old French from Latin impressio, and it is simply impress with -ion added: the result of pressing in. A head on a pillow leaves one. Most of the other meanings keep this picture of pressure leaving a trace, and carry it over to minds, paper and paint.
- 4An imitation of another person's voice, mannerisms, or behavior, often performed to entertain.
Like a mirror that copies not your looks but your voice and gestures.
The comedian's impression of the president was uncanny.
She does a spot-on impression of her boss's nervous laugh.
Similarimitation, impersonation, parody, caricature, mimicry
- 5The outward appearance that something presents to an observer.
Like a book cover designed to suggest what lies inside.
The polished lobby creates an impression of corporate success.
His tailored suit gave the impression of effortless authority.
Similarappearance, air, semblance, illusion, image
- 6A print made on paper from an inked wood block, metal plate, or similar engraved surface.
Like pressing a carved seal into wax, but transferred onto paper with ink.
The gallery displayed an early impression pulled from the copper plate.
Collectors prize the first impression taken from a worn engraving.
Note
Printmakers use the word for each single sheet pulled from an inked block or plate. Every pull presses the design onto fresh paper, so successive impressions from the same plate can differ, and later ones often show wear. That is why collectors care how early an impression is. Do not confuse it with a whole print run: one is a sheet, the other a batch of copies.
- 7A single print run of a publication, every copy of which matches the others in content, pagination, layout, and other details.
Like one production run of identical posters, all stamped out together.
The publisher ordered a new impression without altering a single word.
The rare first impression carried a printing error on page ten.
Note
Publishing uses it for one printing run: all the copies produced at a single time from the same setting. The distinction that matters is with edition. A new impression reprints the book unchanged, while a new edition involves substantive changes to content or layout. So a book in its third impression may still be in its first edition.
- 8A count of one instance in which an online ad or post is displayed to a user.
Like a tally mark added every time a billboard is seen by a passing car.
The campaign racked up thousands of impressions in a single afternoon.
Advertisers pay for each impression their banner generates.
Note
Online advertising's basic unit of count. Every time an ad or post is shown, one impression is logged, whether or not anyone clicks or engages. It usually appears as a count noun with a modifier, as in an ad impression or thousands of impressions. Money can follow it directly: Dusty Reagan's Twitter Application Development For Dummies (2010) describes publishers paid for each ad impression their site generates.
- 9A vivid perception of something as it is directly experienced, as distinct from ideas drawn from memory or imagination.
Like a fresh photograph compared with the dim memory of the scene it captured.
A sudden impression of cold struck her the moment she stepped outside.
The painter worked from the immediate impression the landscape made on his senses.
Similarsensation, perception, feeling, sense
Note
Philosophy gave the word a technical edge. In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), David Hume chose it for "all our more lively perceptions", meaning what we hear, see or feel. He admitted he was using it "in a sense somewhat different from the usual." Impressions are the forceful originals. Ideas are the fainter copies that memory and imagination later make from them.
- 10The first coat of color applied to a surface, such as the priming used in house painting.
Like primer on a canvas: the silent first layer everything else sits on.
The decorator applied an impression to the bare plaster before the topcoat.
An even impression keeps the finish coat from soaking into the wood.
Similarprimer, undercoat, priming, ground
Oppositetopcoat
Note
The ground layer of a painted surface, in the painter's own vocabulary. The first coat of color goes onto the bare surface and seals it. It also gives the coats that follow an even base to sit on, doing the same job as priming in house-painting. The term belongs to the craft, so outside it most people say primer instead.
- 11To work a blank key inside a lock so it picks up marks of the lock's shape, which helps in cutting a duplicate.
Like taking a mold of a keyhole by letting the blank record where it catches.
Locksmiths impression the blank by turning it against the pins and reading the marks.
She can impression a simple pin tumbler lock entirely by hand.
Note
A locksmith's verb, formed directly on the noun: impressions, impressioning, impressioned. The marks a blank picks up inside the lock are themselves impressions. Graham Pulford's High-Security Mechanical Locks (2007) explains that the skill lies in removing only a little from each marked pin position. For the everyday verb, use impress; this one belongs to the trade.
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Practice
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Origin
From Old French "impression," from Latin "impressio." It is equivalent to "impress" plus the suffix "-ion."