Hugh Seton-WatsonB. N. Cardozo
Did you know?
Put the Valuable Impute Into Your Vocabulary
Impute is a somewhat formal word that is used to suggest that someone or something has done or is guilty of something. It is similar in meaning to such words as ascribe and attribute, though it is more likely to suggest an association with something that brings discredit. When we impute something, we typically impute it to someone or something. You may also encounter the related noun imputation, which appears in such contexts as "I deny all your imputations of blame." Another sense of impute means "to calculate as a value or cost (as for taxation)," as in "impute a benefit from the use of the car."
Synonyms
Examples of impute in a Sentence
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 17 June 2024
Countries with more transparent judicial processes do not, as a rule, take foreign citizens hostage in this manner, even though other countries might impute political motivations to charging decisions—as the Chinese have done in the case of Meng.
—Chimène Keitner, Foreign Affairs, 25 Jan. 2019
The former president has repeatedly distanced himself from Project 2025 after relentless attacks from Democrats using some of the 900-page playbook’s more aggressive proposals to impute Trump’s agenda since many of the proposals were written by alumni of Trump’s White House.
—Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, 30 July 2024
Refreshingly, Hill and Gaddy refrain from imputing motives to Putin.
—Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2015
See all Example Sentences for impute 
Dictionary Entries Near impute
Cite this Entry
“Impute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impute. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
impute
verb
Legal Definition
impute
transitive verb
Share