What does "impressment" mean?

The act of seizing for public use; impressing into public service, especially military service and (most often) naval service.

What is a synonym for "impressment"?

Common synonyms include: abduction, angary, annexation, annexure, attachment, call.

How do you pronounce "impressment"?

Pronounced //ɪmˈpɹɛsmənt//.

Impressment

//ɪmˈpɹɛsmənt// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The act of seizing for public use; impressing into public service, especially military service and (most often) naval service. countable, uncountable
"owing to the immense number of our sailors, and the extent of our commerce, we were enabled by impressment and other means, to fit out and man a powerful fleet in a few weeks"
2
the act of coercing someone into government service wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

abduction angary annexation annexure attachment call

Example

More examples

"owing to the immense number of our sailors, and the extent of our commerce, we were enabled by impressment and other means, to fit out and man a powerful fleet in a few weeks"

Etymology

From impress + -ment.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.