IMBUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does imbue mean? 

• IMBUE (verb)
  The verb IMBUE has 3 senses:

1. spread or diffuse through

2. fill, soak, or imbue totally

3. suffuse with color

  Familiarity information: IMBUE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMBUE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they imbue    ... he / she / it imbues   
Past simple: imbued   
Past participle: imbued   
-ing form: imbuing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spread or diffuse through

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

diffuse; imbue; interpenetrate; penetrate; permeate; pervade; riddle

Context example:

His campaign was riddled with accusations and personal attacks

Hypernyms (to "imbue" is one way to...):

penetrate; perforate (pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "imbue"):

spiritise; spiritize (imbue with a spirit)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fill, soak, or imbue totally

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

imbue; soak

Context example:

soak the bandage with disinfectant

Hypernyms (to "imbue" is one way to...):

impregnate; saturate (infuse or fill completely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "imbue"):

infuse; steep (let sit in a liquid to extract a flavor or to cleanse)

brew (sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Suffuse with color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

hue; imbue

Hypernyms (to "imbue" is one way to...):

color; color in; colorise; colorize; colour; colour in; colourise; colourize (add color to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition; but how am I sunk!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He was an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The patriarchal lives of my protectors caused these impressions to take a firm hold on my mind; perhaps, if my first introduction to humanity had been made by a young soldier, burning for glory and slaughter, I should have been imbued with different sensations.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)