Meanings
present singular third person imputes · participle present imputing · participle past imputed · past imputed
- transitiveTo attribute or ascribe (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source.
The teacher imputed the student's failure to his nervousness.
4 more examples
Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, / If mem’ry o’er their tomb no trophies raise, / Where thro’ the long-drawn isle and fretted vault, / The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, lines 37–40I impute my improvement more to the kind attentions of Lord Allerton, who is my companion still, and will not, I think, leave me, than to the sea air.
1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 141He was vain, sensual, frivolous, profuse, improvident. One vice of a darker shade was imputed to him, envy.
1856 February, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “"Oliver Goldsmith"”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, 8th edition, volume and page numbers unknownWe ascribe or impute motives to others and avow them or confess to them in ourselves.
1956–1960, Richard Stanley Peters, “2: Motives and Motivation”, in The Concept of Motivation, Routledge & Kegan Paul (second edition, 1960), page 29Synonyms: attribute, insinuate, charge, imply, accredit, ascribe, attach, attribute
- transitivelifestyleTo ascribe (sin or righteousness) to someone by substitution.
To use the technical language of theologians, God through his grace "imputes" the merits of the crucified and risen Christ to a fallen human being who remains without inherent merit, and who without this "imputation" would not be "made" righteous at all.
2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin (2010), page 607 - transitiveTo take into account.
1 more example
They ſerved with honour in the wars of Bajazet; but a plan of fortifying Conſtantinople excited his jealouſy: he threatened their lives; the new works were inſtantly demoliſhed; and we ſhall beſtow a praiſe, perhaps above the merit of Palæologus, if we impute this laſt humiliation as the cauſe of his death.
1788, Edward Gibbon, “Chapter 64: A.D. 1355–1391: The Emperor John Palæologus; Discord of the Greeks”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 6, page 328 - transitivemathematicsTo replace missing data with substituted values.
remove observed values and impute
2012, Stef van Buuren, Flexible Imputation of Missing Data, page 2631 more example
We will use a logistic regression model to impute values of nominal and ordinal variables and a linear regression model to impute values of continuous variables.
2010, Mamdouh Refaat, Data Preparation for Data Mining Using SAS, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 184
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo attribute or ascribe (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source.
More synonyms by meaning
verbattribute (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinimputō“to bring into the reckoning, charge, impute”
- Middle Frenchimputer
- Englishimpute
Borrowed from Middle French imputer, from Latin imputō (“to bring into the reckoning, charge, impute”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian приписвам, отдавам
- приписвам (pripisvam)to attribute to a cause or source
- отдавам (otdavam)to attribute to a cause or source
- приписвам (pripisvam)to ascribe sin or righteousness
- отчитам (otčitam)to take account of; regard
- приписвам (pripisvam)to attribute or credit to
Czech přisuzovat, přičítat
- přisuzovatto attribute to a cause or source
- přičítatto attribute to a cause or source
- připisovatto attribute to a cause or source
- přisuzovatto attribute or credit to
French imputer, imputer
- imputerto attribute to a cause or source
- imputerto ascribe sin or righteousness
German zuschreiben, anrechnen
- zuschreibento attribute to a cause or source
- anrechnento ascribe sin or righteousness
- zurechnento ascribe sin or righteousness
- in Betracht ziehento take account of; regard
- einbeziehento take account of; regard
- einberechnento take account of; regard
- einkalkulierento take account of; regard
- erwägento take account of; regard
- betrachtento take account of; regard
- zuschreibento attribute or credit to
- unterstellento attribute or credit to
Italian imputare, imputare
- imputareto attribute to a cause or source
- imputareto ascribe sin or righteousness
- imputareto attribute or credit to
Japanese 転嫁する, 転嫁する
- 転嫁する (tenka suru)to ascribe sin or righteousness
- 転嫁する (tenka suru)to attribute or credit to
Korean 돌리다, 돌리다
- 돌리다 (dollida)to attribute to a cause or source
- 돌리다 (dollida)to ascribe sin or righteousness
- 돌리다 (dollida)to attribute or credit to
Māori whakairi, whakatuaki
- whakairito attribute to a cause or source
- whakatuakito attribute to a cause or source
Polish przypisać, imputować
- przypisaćto attribute to a cause or source
- imputowaćto attribute to a cause or source
- przypisaćto ascribe sin or righteousness
- przypisaćto attribute or credit to
Portuguese imputar, imputar
- imputarto attribute to a cause or source
- imputarto ascribe sin or righteousness
- imputarto attribute or credit to
Romanian imputa, imputa
- imputato attribute to a cause or source
- imputato ascribe sin or righteousness
- imputato attribute or credit to
Russian вменять, припи́сывать
- вменять (vmenjatʹ)to attribute to a cause or source
- припи́сывать (pripísyvatʹ)to ascribe sin or righteousness
- припи́сывать (pripísyvatʹ)to attribute or credit to
Spanish imputar
- imputarto attribute to a cause or source
Swedish tillskriva, tillskriva
- tillskrivato attribute to a cause or source
- tillskrivato ascribe sin or righteousness
Ukrainian приписувати
- приписувати (prypysuvaty)to attribute to a cause or source
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with impute
Anagrams
Cite this entry
impute. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impute
“impute.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impute. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “impute,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impute.
Source: impute on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.