How to Use imperative in a Sentence

imperative

1 of 2 adjective
Definition of imperativenext
Synonyms for imperativenext
  • People resented his imperative tone of voice.
  • We had a long and interesting evening with the Katzenbachs. He and Lyndon discussed the imperative need to make Washington a law-abiding city and how to go about it.
    — Lady Bird Johnson, 27 Jan. 1965
  • Having a guy like that on the floor with those four is imperative.
    — Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 22 Feb. 2023
  • And this is a part Foltz said is imperative not to skip.
    — Kathrine Nero, The Enquirer, 25 Apr. 2021
  • Soul is the imperative governing all of his music: the will to move the crowd.
    — Adam Bradley Adam Bradley Photographs By D’angelo Lovell Williams Styled By Ian Bradley Nick Haramis Photographs By Lise Sarfati Styled By Suzanne Koller Sasha Weiss Photographs By Justin French Susan Dominus Photographs By Luis Alberto Rodriguez Styled By Charlotte Collet, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2022
  • The Bengals found out the hard way that a good line is imperative.
    — cleveland, 17 Feb. 2022
  • In the moment when a phone rang, there was an imperative.
    — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, 31 May 2018
  • Sharp blades on all our tools are an imperative to avoid bruising the canes and stems.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Jan. 2023
  • To help rebuild the land of my people is a moral imperative.
    — Marjua Estevez, Billboard, 23 Oct. 2017
  • That means playing the hits — and even among those, the most streamed — is imperative.
    — Rebecca Milzoff, Billboard, 25 Aug. 2022
  • Giving someone the space and sense of safety to cry in front of you is imperative.
    — Lydia Wang, Women's Health, 25 May 2023
  • As part of that, the academic side of things is imperative for his team.
    — James T. Norman, chicagotribune.com, 11 Feb. 2022
  • And that’s not the imperative here for this White House.
    — WSJ, 6 Feb. 2017
  • The fight to build power is imperative, so that’s our work for when this strike is over.
    — Rebecca Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Aug. 2023
  • The topics might be heavy, the mood might be heavy, but finding the right words is imperative.
    — Mary Schumacher, chicagotribune.com, 27 Aug. 2019
  • Which just goes to show that getting those stops will be imperative.
    — Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Aug. 2020
  • The scale of wealth concentration in a few hands makes a wealth tax imperative.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2021
  • And the Wall Street imperative now is too strong to resist.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 11 Dec. 2020
  • Coffee, of course, is imperative and often the first step for me.
    — Autumn Thatcher, The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 Dec. 2021
  • All of the above will be imperative because the market itself has not been a great selling point.
    — oregonlive, 15 Apr. 2022
  • That's imperative when so much of each lap is spent sideways.
    — David Beard, Car and Driver, 3 May 2020
  • Will’s imperative, by his own lights, has been to make a life for Tom.
    — Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 28 June 2018
  • That would make success with tourists an imperative, not a bonus.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2023
  • To keep the layers from looking too blunt, twisting the hair is imperative.
    — Allure, 7 Sep. 2017
  • Running around from show to show, your shoe choice is imperative.
    — Halie Lesavage, Harper's BAZAAR, 9 Sep. 2022
  • So know that calling the police is not always imperative in a wreck.
    — Doug Turnbull, ajc, 10 May 2018
  • To be clear, there is nothing wrong with a week of takeout, no moral imperative to cook.
    — Jessica Battilana, SFChronicle.com, 13 Nov. 2020
  • Research is all about the biggest bang, but the imperative for products is bang-for-the-buck.
    — Scott Kirsner, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2018
  • With four kids — three of whom are now driving — finding a home with a garage was imperative.
    — Lennie Omalza, The Courier-Journal, 2 June 2022
  • So each has embraced the same imperative: Take the other out.
    — Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2016
Advertisement

imperative

2 of 2 noun
  • She considers it a moral imperative to help people in need.
  • Here is a war with a clear front line with a clear moral imperative.
    — David Marchese David Marchese Photograph By Mamadi Doumbouya, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
  • Maybe the imperative got in his head, but Taylor can’t put the ball on the ground.
    — Jim Ayello, The Indianapolis Star, 8 Nov. 2020
  • For many of the veterans involved in the effort, the work feels like a moral imperative.
    — Jennifer Hansler, CNN, 25 Aug. 2021
  • My job as an actor is to look at the human being and to look at the human imperative and to see what that is.
    — David Marchesephotograph By Mamadi Doumbouya, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2021
  • This is an imperative to be present, to take extra care.
    — Joseph Lezza, Longreads, 30 Mar. 2023
  • The reason to focus here isn’t just the moral imperative or as a recruitment tool.
    — Joe Karbowski, Forbes, 7 July 2021
  • The suits have a moral imperative to share—and share widely—in this new industry.
    — Andrew Deangelo, Forbes, 28 Apr. 2021
  • In one myth, they are locked in conflict, sparring over the claims of reason and the imperative of power.
    — Corey Robin, The New Yorker, 12 Nov. 2020
  • No other course of action is equal to the urgent crises and the democratic imperative of our present.
    — Ryan D. Doerfler, The New Republic, 13 Oct. 2020
  • This is an unmitigated good (and one that is a moral imperative to extend to the rest of the world).
    — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, 15 Aug. 2021
  • That imperative can either push them to act or restrain them.
    — Phillips P. O’Brien, Foreign Affairs, 29 June 2023
  • Rich countries do not only have a moral imperative to act.
    — Mark Suzman september 8, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2023
  • What followed for Willson was a new life on the water and an imperative to shore up the ship and find safe harbor.
    — Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Oct. 2020
  • The leagues have a moral imperative to find a way to remove him from their midst and force the sale of both clubs to owners who will restore integrity to them.
    — Bill Oram, oregonlive, 5 Oct. 2022
  • Even the cosmic imperative for the three realms to exist in harmony are mentioned.
    — Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 24 Jan. 2020
  • His time with Perry gave him a new creative imperative: to be quick with his work.
    — Krystal Rodriguez, Billboard, 18 June 2019
  • The imperative of the streaming boom is to turn the content spigot to full blast, but that makes content seem forgettable and cheap.
    — New York Times, 22 Dec. 2021
  • The question now is whether a shot in the arm will be viewed as a national imperative or government overreach.
    — Zachary B. Wolf, CNN, 10 Sep. 2021
  • Ukraine’s imperative was to strike back before the Russians had time to regroup.
    — Karen Deyoung, Washington Post, 14 June 2023
  • The kid ends up getting blown about by words and different requests or imperatives.
    — Carolyn Hax, Detroit Free Press, 24 June 2017
  • The second is to recognize that longer lives create a new health imperative of ageing well..
    — London Business School, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2021
  • For many of us, sheltering in place has been more than a physical imperative.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 28 Oct. 2021
  • For many creatives, this is a business imperative that needs to be baked into union contracts.
    — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 28 Feb. 2023
  • While this happened, there were two competing imperatives that controllers and the crew had to work under.
    — Eric Berger & Lee Hutchinson, Ars Technica, 11 Apr. 2020
  • In other words, his first imperative was not — did not appear to be — power.
    — New York Times, 7 Mar. 2021
  • This just like that, except the imperative of the pandemic lends far greater urgency.
    — Robert Hackett, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2020
  • But grumpy customers will have to contend with the structural imperatives of the insurance business.
    — The Economist, 12 Sep. 2019
  • But significantly more than a moral imperative is that the math doesn’t work out anymore.
    — Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 15 July 2021
  • What should the West want to accomplish above and beyond serving a compelling moral imperative.
    — Josef Joffe, Time, 1 Dec. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imperative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: