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Impetus

//ˈɪm.pə.təs// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Anything that impels; a stimulating factor.

    "The outbreak of World War II in 1939 gave a new impetus to receiver development."

  2. 2
    the act of applying force suddenly wordnet
  3. 3
    A force, either internal or external, that impels; an impulse.
  4. 4
    a force that moves something along wordnet
  5. 5
    The force or energy associated with a moving body; a stimulus.
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  1. 6
    A principle of motive force, held as equivalent to weight times velocity by John Buridan, in an auxiliary theory of Aristotelian dynamics introduced by John Philoponus, describing projectile motion against gravity as linear until it transitions to a vertical drop and the intellectual precursor to the concepts of inertia, momentum and acceleration in classical mechanics.
  2. 7
    An activity in response to a stimulus.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin impetus (“a rushing upon, an attack, assault, onset”), from impetō (“to rush upon, attack”), from in- (“upon”) + petō (“to seek, fall upon”).

See also for "impetus"

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