| English Dictionary |
PEREMPTORY
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Dictionary entry overview: What does peremptory mean?
• PEREMPTORY (adjective)
The adjective PEREMPTORY has 3 senses:
1. offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power
2. not allowing contradiction or refusal
3. putting an end to all debate or action
Familiarity information: PEREMPTORY used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power
Synonyms:
autocratic; bossy; dominating; high-and-mighty; magisterial; peremptory
Context example:
a swaggering peremptory manner
Similar:
domineering (tending to domineer)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not allowing contradiction or refusal
Context example:
peremptory commands
Similar:
imperative (requiring attention or action)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Putting an end to all debate or action
Context example:
a peremptory decree
Similar:
decisive (determining or having the power to determine an outcome)
Context examples
Tea ready, I was going to approach the table; but she desired me to sit still, quite in her old peremptory tones.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
However much astonished I might be, I was sensible that I had no right to refuse compliance with such a peremptory command.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
"Stand by to receive your dog," was Scott's peremptory order to Cherokee's owner.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
He was quite peremptory, both in look and voice.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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