Use impart for formal or careful writing about passing on knowledge, wisdom, advice, secrets, lessons, or skills. In everyday speech, tell, teach, share, or pass on often sounds more natural.
Use impart for formal or careful writing about passing on knowledge, wisdom, advice, secrets, lessons, or skills. In everyday speech, tell, teach, share, or pass on often sounds more natural.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The teacher imparted the students. | The teacher imparted knowledge to the students. |
| She imparted me the news. | She imparted the news to me. |
| He imparted about his plan. | He imparted his plan to us. |
| The course imparts students with skills. | The course imparts skills to students. |
Use impart when a quality seems to pass from one thing into another. It is common with abstract nouns and sensory qualities, such as flavor, color, warmth, elegance, authority, and confidence.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The herbs impart the soup. | The herbs impart flavor to the soup. |
| He imparted a book to her. | He gave a book to her. |
| The lighting imparted to the room warmth. | The lighting imparted warmth to the room. |
| The speech imparted the audience confidence. | The speech imparted confidence to the audience. |
Impart is useful in formal writing where give or tell would be too plain. It often appears with knowledge, wisdom, advice, information, skills, flavor, color, warmth, confidence, or authority.
She imparted me the news uses the wrong pattern. Say She imparted the news to me. Impart normally takes the information or quality as its direct object, then to plus the receiver.
From Middle English imparten, from Old French empartir or impartir, and Latin impartire, meaning to share, divide with another, or communicate. The Latin form combines in- with partire, to divide or share, from pars, meaning part or share. The sense of communicating knowledge or information is recorded from the sixteenth century.
What does impart mean?
Impart means to communicate knowledge, information, wisdom, or advice, or to give a quality such as flavor, color, warmth, or authority to something.
Is impart formal?
Yes. Impart is usually formal. In everyday speech, tell, teach, give, share, or pass on may sound more natural.
What is the correct pattern with impart?
The usual pattern is impart something to someone or something, as in impart knowledge to students or impart flavor to a dish.
Can you impart a person?
No. A person receives what is imparted. Say impart knowledge to a person, not impart a person.
What does impart knowledge mean?
It means to teach, communicate, or pass on knowledge to someone.
What does impart flavor mean?
It means to give flavor to food or drink, often through an ingredient, process, or cooking method.
What are good synonyms for impart?
For information, synonyms include communicate, convey, teach, share, and disclose. For qualities, use give, lend, confer, or add.