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to impend

to impend

22 7.7
To be about to happen, usually something bad or worrying
  • verb
  • /ɪmˈpɛnd/
: avecinarse
  • Every week there was news of an impending reconciliation, but always the talks broke down.
  • impending doom
  • impending disaster
  • impending crisis

Examples

  • It took my impending death for me to realize how much I need you.

  • Upon learning of Mary's arrest and impending prosecution, Nina expresses a desire to show mercy towards Mary.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Oh, how I want to believe him, yet I feel a sense of impending doom.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Beyond drought, there is another aspect of the impending water crisis.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Birds sing as citizens go about their daily lives unaware of the impending chaos.

  • Thus, the main reason for our current schizophrenia about the impending extinction crisis seems simple to me.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Many felt that humankind is engaged in a race between what can be changed and impending environmental disaster.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The stock market could drop, and the impending slowdown could even tilt into recession.

    Academic text (1999)
  • You live here among us, taking our parking spaces, luring our women into your cars, but there's a sense of impending ruin.

  • I could feel an impending sense of danger as the storm clouds gathered on the horizon.

Antonyms

∞ 2.3

Stop something from happening or someone from doing it

How Imminent

imminent
168 4.8
to impend
22 7.7
likely
∞ 1.0
to loom
152 5.1
potentially
479 3.4

Surface Forms

impend infinitive
impended past
impended past participle
impending present participle
impends third person singular

Etymology

Impend comes from the Latin parts in- meaning 'on' and pendere meaning 'to hang', so it originally pictured something 'hanging over' you like a weight. You can see the same root in pending, and that's why impend means something is about to happen, often something bad or worrying.