impress

«impress» in Mova's school dictionary: to make them admire you or feel strongly that something… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (impress, impresses, impressed, impressing); noun (an impress — rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) To impress someone is to make them admire you or feel strongly that something is very good. tree →

2) To impress something on someone is to make them understand clearly how important it is. tree →

3) To impress a mark or pattern is to press it into something soft. tree →

4) (history) To impress men was to force them to serve in the navy. tree →

5) If someone is impressed by an argument or reason, it has persuaded or moved them to agree or change their mind. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life children try to impress friends, teachers or judges; in stories a character impresses the king with a clever answer. Parents impress on children the importance of road safety. Phrases: «be impressed by», «impress on», «try to impress», «make an impression».

examples

• She impressed the judges with her singing. tree →
• I was really impressed by your story. tree →
• He tried to impress his friends by doing a wheelie. tree →
• Mum impressed on us that we must never talk to strangers online. tree →
• We impressed leaves into the clay to make patterns. tree →
• The new pupil's maths impressed the whole class. tree →
• In old times, sailors were impressed into the navy. tree →
• The King, impressed by these considerations, promised that he would think over the matter. tree →

note

Regular verb: impressed, impressing. Nouns: «impression», «impressiveness»; adjective «impressive». «Impressed by» or «impressed with» both work. Trap: trying too hard to impress can make you look silly.

In the corpora

• Later he tried skateboard tricks to impress her, fell off and scraped his knee, and Lily asked if he was OK.
• Showing off to impress someone often ends with a fall or an embarrassment.
• Showing off on a bike to impress someone often ends with a fall and a scraped elbow.
• Swearing to look grown-up rarely impresses anyone and can get you into trouble.
• Saying "we had not considered that" impresses more than bluffing.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «impress» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.