Scott Pendleton
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Imbue Has Old French Roots
Like its synonym infuse, imbue implies the introduction of one thing into another so as to affect it throughout. Someone's voice can be imbued with pride, for example, or a photograph might be imbued with a sense of melancholy. In the past imbue has also been used synonymously with imbrue, an obscure word meaning “to drench or stain,” but the two words are likely unrelated. Imbue comes from the Latin verb imbuere, meaning “to dye, wet, or moisten.” Imbrue has been traced back through Anglo-French and Old French to the Latin verb bibere, meaning “to drink.”
Examples of imbue in a Sentence
Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 13 July 2025
By creating a fuller picture which centers Medusa in her own story, Hynes creates a more dexterous Medusa, one imbued with more agency and less tragedy.
—Irenosen Okojie
july 11, Literary Hub, 11 July 2025
Included in its sporty, minimalist remit is tennis, best manifested in these compression shorts made in New York from a Belgian technical fabric imbued with 4-way stretch, UV protection and abrasion resistance among other features.
—Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 30 June 2025
For Ingram, the block under the cabinet is an everyday object imbued with deep meaning.
—Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for imbue
Cite this Entry
“Imbue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imbue. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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imbue
verb
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