imperial

1. 1.

   relating to or associated with an empire

   “imperial colony”

   “the imperial gallon was standardized legally throughout the British Empire”
2. 2.

   of or belonging to the British Imperial System of weights and measures
3. 3.

   befitting or belonging to an emperor or empress

   “imperial palace”
4. 4.

   belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler

   “golden age of imperial splendor”

   “purple tyrant”

   “regal attire”

   “treated with royal acclaim”

   “the royal carriage of a stag's head”

   Synonymsmajesticpurpleregalroyal

   Similarnoble

1. 1.

   a small tufted beard worn by Emperor Napoleon III

   Synonymsimperial beard

   Broaderbeard
2. 2.

   a piece of luggage carried on top of a coach

   Broaderbaggage

Other forms of imperial

plural

imperials·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about imperial

What does imperial mean?

imperial means "relating to or associated with an empire". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in imperial?

imperial has 4 syllables: im-per-i-al. The stress falls on "per". In IPA it is /ˌɪmˈpɪɹiəl/.

What is another word for imperial?

Close synonyms include majestic, purple, regal, royal, imperial beard. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is imperial a common word?

imperial is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.