impassioned

Etymology

It is formed from English impassion + -ed,^[2][3][4][5] and corresponds to Italian impassionato.^[2] The verb is from Italian impassionare (“to fill with passion”),^[4][5][6][7] formed from in- (“in”) and passione (“passion”), from Latin passiō.^[4][5] Barnhart finds the verb as empassion in Spenser's “Daphnaida” (1591) and as impassion in Nashe (1593);^[5] Hoad notes that it is used chiefly in the participle.^[6] The Shorter Oxford records the old spelling empassioned.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Filled with passion, ardent: 1603, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, according to Barnhart, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the same year;^[5][8] the OED dates the Sejanus quotation 1605.^[2] Etymonline gives about 1600.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first sense, used both of people and of feelings, speech and actions.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "seized with passion", and in 1773 as "disordered by passion", quoting Milton's "The tempter, all impassion'd, thus began".^[9]

Timeline

• 1603 – filled with passion; ardent.^[5][8] The OED dates its first quotation 1605.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Filled with or showing strong feeling; ardent, fervent: She made an impassioned speech in defence of the library.^{[10][8][2][3]}

Word family

• impassionedly
• impassionedness
• unimpassioned

Related words

• passion
• passionate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins