impressionable

I1M3P3R1E1S1S1I1O1N1A1B3L1E1
/ɪmˈpɹɛ.ʃən.ə.bəl/

adjective

Being easily influenced (especially of young people).

UncommonScrabble 20

Meanings

adjectiveimpressionable (comparative more impressionable, superlative most impressionable)

comparative more impressionable · superlative most impressionable

  1. Being easily influenced (especially of young people).

    I had never been an impressionable girl as far as men were concerned—I was not an impressionable woman.

    1908, Elizabeth Strong Worthington, How to Cook Husbands, Library of Alexandria, →ISBN
    4 more examples

    "Panbek is impressionable and full of emotion, with the temperament of the poet and all those little weaknesses, if we may call them so, which the poet pays as a ransom for his gifts."

    1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

    Besides, there are a great many of these accusers, and they have been accusing me now for a great many years; and what is more, they approached you at the most impressionable age, when some of you were children or adolescents; and they literally won their case by default, because there was no one to defend me.

    1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 20

    As a result, Miss Brodie calls on her authority over her "impressionable" students in order to urge them into roles she herself is too afraid to occupy.

    2003, Jerilyn Fisher, Ellen S. Silber, Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 240

    Sages and mothers have long noted that humans, especially young humans, are impressionable. It is supposed that the environment that one inhabits plays a large role in a child's behavioral and moral development.

    2011, Jamie Carlin Watson, Robert Arp, What's Good on TV?: Understanding Ethics Through Television, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN
nounimpressionable (plural impressionables)

plural impressionables

  1. An impressionable person.

    They were the faces of the same gentlemen who plied the corruptibles in Rumania with cash and impressed the impressionables with Germany's power.

    1942, Frank Gervasi, War Has Seven Faces

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveeasily impressed or influenced

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*per-?
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pres-
  7. Proto-Italic*pres-
  8. Latinpremō
  9. Latinimprimō
  10. Latinimpressiōnem
  11. Frenchimpression
  12. Frenchimpressionner
  13. Frenchimpressionnable
  14. Englishimpressionable

From French impressionnable, equivalent to impression + -able. See also impressible.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek παθηματικός
  • παθηματικός (pathēmatikós)easily influenced
Bulgarian впечатли́телен, възприемчи́в
  • впечатли́телен (vpečatlítelen)easily influenced
  • възприемчи́в (văzpriemčív)easily influenced
Catalan impressionable
  • impressionableeasily influenced
Chinese Mandarin 易受影響的 /易受影响的, 容易受感染的
  • 易受影響的 /易受影响的 (yì shòu yǐngxiǎng de)easily influenced
  • 容易受感染的 (róngyì shòu gǎnrǎn de)easily influenced
  • 易受影響者 /易受影响者 (yì shòu yǐngxiǎng zhě)impressionable person
  • 容易受感染的人 (róngyì shòu gǎnrǎn de rén)impressionable person
Dutch beïnvloedbaar, ontvankelijk
  • beïnvloedbaareasily influenced
  • ontvankelijkeasily influenced
Finnish vaikutusaltis, vaikutusaltis
  • vaikutusaltiseasily influenced
  • vaikutusaltisimpressionable person
French impressionnable
  • impressionnableeasily influenced
German beeinflussbar
  • beeinflussbareasily influenced
Greek ευεπηρέαστος
  • ευεπηρέαστος (evepiréastos)easily influenced
Hungarian befolyásolható
  • befolyásolhatóeasily influenced
Italian impressionabile
  • impressionabileeasily influenced
Korean 쉽게 외부의 영향을 받는
  • 쉽게 외부의 영향을 받는 (swipge oebuui yeonghyang'eul banneun)easily influenced
Norwegian Bokmål påvirkelig, lettpåvirkelig
  • påvirkeligeasily influenced
  • lettpåvirkeligeasily influenced
Portuguese impressionável
  • impressionáveleasily influenced
Russian впечатли́тельный
  • впечатли́тельный (vpečatlítelʹnyj)easily influenced
Spanish impresionable
  • impresionableeasily influenced
Swedish lättpåverkad
  • lättpåverkadeasily influenced
Cite this entry
APA

impressionable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impressionable

MLA

“impressionable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impressionable. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “impressionable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impressionable.

Source: impressionable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.