Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun imperative

2 senses of imperative

Sense 1
imperative mood, imperative, jussive mood, imperative form -- (a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior)
       => mood, mode, modality -- (verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker)

Sense 2
imperative -- (some duty that is essential and urgent)
       => duty, responsibility, obligation -- (the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force; "we must instill a sense of duty in our children"; "every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty"- John D.Rockefeller Jr)

Antonyms of adj imperative

1 of 2 senses of imperative

Sense 1
imperative (vs. beseeching) -- (requiring attention or action; "as nuclear weapons proliferate, preventing war becomes imperative"; "requests that grew more and more imperative")

beseeching (vs. imperative), pleading, imploring -- (begging)
        => adjuratory -- (earnestly or solemnly entreating; "in adjuratory terms")
        => importunate -- (expressing earnest entreaty; "an importunate job applicant")
        => mendicant -- (practicing beggary; "mendicant friars")
        => petitionary -- (of the nature of or expressing a petition; "the petitionary procedure had a quality of indecisiveness")
        => precatory, precative -- (expressing entreaty or supplication; "precatory overtures")
        => suppliant, supplicant, supplicatory -- (humbly entreating; "a suppliant sinner seeking forgiveness")

Similarity of adj imperative

2 senses of imperative

Sense 1
imperative (vs. beseeching) -- (requiring attention or action; "as nuclear weapons proliferate, preventing war becomes imperative"; "requests that grew more and more imperative")
       => adjuratory -- (containing a solemn charge or command)
       => clamant, crying, exigent, insistent, instant -- (demanding attention; "clamant needs"; "a crying need"; "regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"- H.L.Mencken; "insistent hunger"; "an instant need")
       => peremptory -- (not allowing contradiction or refusal; "spoke in peremptory tones"; "peremptory commands")
       => desperate -- (showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire; "felt a desperate urge to confess"; "a desperate need for recognition")
       => pressing, urgent -- (compelling immediate action; "too pressing to permit of longer delay"; "the urgent words `Hurry! Hurry!'"; "bridges in urgent need of repair")
       => strident, shrill -- (being sharply insistent on being heard; "strident demands"; "shrill criticism")
          Also See-> assertive#1, self-asserting#1, self-assertive#1

Sense 2
imperative -- (relating to verbs in the imperative mood)