English

Verb

impinge ‎(third-person singular simple present impinges, present participle impinging, simple past and past participle impinged)

1. (transitive, now rare) To make a physical impact (on); to collide, to crash (upon).
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol.1, New York Review Books, 2001, p.287:

     The ordinary rocks upon which such men do impinge and precipitate themselves, are cards, dice, hawks, and hounds […].

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To interfere with; to encroach (on, upon).
   • 2006 Summer, Keith R. Fisher, “Toward a Basal Tenth Amendment: A Riposte to National Bank Preemption of State Consumer Protection Laws”, in Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, volume 29, page 981-1034:

     It is astonishing that the meaning of a single declarative sentence enshrined in the Bill of Rights has evaded judicial construction establishing, at a minimum, some bedrock level of state sovereignty upon which the federal government can not impinge.

3. (intransitive) To have an effect upon; to limit.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

     “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …”

Usage notes

• The transitive use is less common, not included in many small dictionaries, and not favored by Garner's Modern American Usage (2009).

Derived terms

Related terms

• impact

Translations

Italian

Verb

impinge

1. third-person singular present indicative of impingere

Anagrams

• impegni

Latin

Verb

impinge

1. second-person singular present active imperative of impingō