Foist vs Impose - What's the difference?
foist | impose |
To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.
* 2006 — ,
* {{quote-book, passage=the Tale of Zayn al-Asnám is one of two which Galland repudiated, as having been foisted into his 8th volume without his knowledge
, author=William Alexander Clouston
, title=
, year=}}
To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit.
To pass off as genuine or worthy.
* (rfdate) Jonathan Spivak — foist costly and valueless products on the public
A thief or pickpocket.
* 1977 , Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld , Folio Society 2006, p. 54:
(obsolete) A light and fast-sailing ship.
To establish or apply by authority.
* Milton
* 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
to be an inconvenience
to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=December 10
, author=Arindam Rej
, title=Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle
, work=BBC Sport
To practice a trick or deception.
To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.
To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms, etc.
In transitive terms the difference between foist and impose
is that foist is to pass off as genuine or worthy while impose is to establish or apply by authority.As a noun foist
is a thief or pickpocket.foist
English
Etymology 1
Probably from obsolete (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)The Gift of Language
- attempts to foist alleged grammatical “correctness” on native speakers of an “incorrect” dialect are nothing but the unacknowledged and oppressive exercise of social control
Synonyms
* fob off * pass off * pawn off * palm offNoun
(en noun)- The foist had lately arrived form the country and was known to be doing a thriving trade in and around Westminster Hall where many country folk and others came to see lawyers.
Etymology 2
(etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- (Beaumont and Fletcher)
impose
English
Verb
(impos)- Death is the penalty imposed .
- Congress imposed new tariffs.
- Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.
- I don't wish to impose upon you.
- Social relations impose courtesy
citation, page= , passage=Norwich soon began imposing themselves on that patched-up defence with Holt having their best early chance, only to see it blocked by Simpson.}}