First Known Use: 14th century
Dictionary
impute
verb im·pute \im-ˈpyüt\
: to say or suggest that someone or something has or is guilty of (something)
im·put·edim·put·ing
Full Definition of IMPUTE
transitive verb
1
: to lay the responsibility or blame for often falsely or unjustly
2
: to credit to a person or a cause : attribute <our vices as well as our virtues have been imputed to bodily derangement — B. N. Cardozo>
— im·put·abil·i·ty \-ˌpyü-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun
— im·put·able \-ˈpyü-tə-bəl\ adjective
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Origin of IMPUTE
Middle English, from Anglo-French imputer, from Latin imputare, from in- + putare to consider
Synonym Discussion of IMPUTE
ascribe, attribute, assign, impute, credit mean to lay something to the account of a person or thing. ascribe suggests an inferring or conjecturing of cause, quality, authorship <forged paintings formerly ascribed to masters>. attribute suggests less tentativeness than ascribe , less definiteness than assign <attributed to Rembrandt but possibly done by an associate>. assign implies ascribing with certainty or after deliberation <assigned the bones to the Cretaceous period>. impute suggests ascribing something that brings discredit by way of accusation or blame <tried to impute sinister motives to my actions>. credit implies ascribing a thing or especially an action to a person or other thing as its agent, source, or explanation <credited his teammates for his success>.
Rhymes with IMPUTE
acute, astute, Asyût, bear fruit, beetroot, Beirut, birthroot, bloodroot, breadfruit, butut, cahoot, Canute, catsuit, cheroot, choucroute, clubroot, commute, compute, confute, crapshoot, cube root, deaf-mute, depute, dilute, dispute, dry suit, elute, en route, enroot, flight suit, folkmoot, freeboot, galoot, grapefruit, G suit, hardboot, hip boot, hirsute, imbrute, jackboot, jackfruit, jumpsuit, kashruth, lawsuit, long suit, lounge suit, minute, nonsuit, offshoot, outshoot, Paiute, pantsuit, permute, playsuit, pollute, pursuit, recruit, refute, repute, salute, sans doute, seaboot, snowsuit, solute, square root, star fruit, star route, statute, strong suit, sunsuit, sweat suit, swimsuit, take root, taproot, to boot, tracksuit, trade route, transmute, tribute, uproot, volute, wet suit
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