SAT vocabulary: impute

What does impute mean? Read below for the definition.

Quick vocab quiz for the word impute

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Now let’s learn about the word impute.

Part of Speech of impute

impute is a VERB.

Pronunciation impute

Here’s how to pronounce impute:

IPA: /ɪm.ˈpyut/

Glossary-style: [ihm-PYOOT]

Definition of impute

impute means: attribute or give responsibility to someone or something for doing something, especially something bad (Ex: impute selfishness to one’s actions).

Explain more about impute, please

impute is one of those words that’s easy to understand, but a bit hard to explain, like although and the slang term cool.

It’s often best to explain words like this with examples, so let’s start with an example before we get to the definition. Imagine that you’ve given a gift to your teacher. A cynical person might impute selfish motives to your action, saying, for example, that you are giving your teacher a gift so that she or he will look upon you more favorably or will perhaps reward your generosity with a higher grade.

So, in a nutshell, if you impute something to someone, you say that that peson is responsible for it. In the above case, we are imputing selfish motives to you for giving your teacher a gift. (And nothing personal; this is just an example. :) )

Example of impute

Here’s the word impute used in a sentence:

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