im·pend

(ĭm-pĕnd′)

intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends

1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending.

2. To threaten to happen; menace: discouraged by the trouble that impended.

3. Archaic To jut out; hang suspended.

[Latin impendēre : in-, over; see in-² + pendēre, to hang; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

impending

(ɪmˈpɛndɪŋ) or

impendent

adj

about to happen; imminent

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

impending - close in time; about to occur; "retribution is at hand"; "some people believe the day of judgment is close at hand"; "in imminent danger"; "his impending retirement"

imminent, impendent, at hand, close at hand

close - at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other; "close to noon"; "how close are we to town?"; "a close formation of ships"

impending

adjective looming, coming, approaching, near, nearing, threatening, forthcoming, brewing, imminent, hovering, upcoming, on the horizon, in the pipeline, in the offing He had told us that morning of his impending marriage.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

impending

adjective

About to occur at any moment:

imminent, momentary, proximate.

Translations

imminente incombente

impending

[ɪmˈpendɪŋ] ADJ (gen) → inminente
his impending retirement → su inminente jubilación
a sign of impending disaster → una señal de que se avecina un desastre

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

impending

[ɪmˈpɛndɪŋ] adj → imminent(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

impending

adj → bevorstehend; death, disaster also → nahe; storm also → heraufziehend; (= threatening) → drohend; a sense of impending doom → eine Ahnung von unmittelbar drohendem Unheil

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

impending

[ɪmˈpɛndɪŋ] adj (birth, storm, retirement) → imminente; (doom, disaster) → incombente

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war.

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The underwriter, who had been trying to minimize the amount of impending loss, regrets his premature pessimism.

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The greater number of the middle-aged people and certain great personages were displeased at the prospect of the impending scandal in society.

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Here they were obliged to pass the canoes down cautiously by a line from the impending banks.

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Of late I have remarked that you were looking depressed; and though I felt fearful that something unfortunate was impending, what has happened would otherwise never have entered my head.

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"Whoe'er I know shall shun th' impending fight, To dogs and vultures soon shall be a prey; For death is mine.

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He was worried by the impending necessity of interfering in the stupid business matters for which his mother had called him home.

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The unfortunate queen Pomare, incapable of averting the impending calamity, terrified at the arrogance of the insolent Frenchman, and driven at last to despair, fled by night in a canoe to Emio.

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Whatever was the cause, the effect was dejection and a sense of impending evil; this was especially so in Dr.

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The unhappy Isaac was deprived not only of the power of rising to make the obeisance which his terror dictated, but he could not even doff his cap, or utter any word of supplication; so strongly was he agitated by the conviction that tortures and death were impending over him.

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He could not know that the powerful hind paws were gathering close beneath the tawny belly preparatory to a sudden spring, and his first intimation of impending danger was the thunderous and triumphant roar which the charging lion could no longer suppress.

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This would be to admit that they might be kept up IN TIME OF PEACE, against threatening or impending danger, which would be at once to deviate from the literal meaning of the prohibition, and to introduce an extensive latitude of construction.

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