Oblige vs Impose - What's the difference?
oblige | impose |
To constrain someone by force or by social, moral or legal means.
To do someone a service or favour (hence, originally, creating an obligation).
*
To be indebted to someone.
To do a service or favour.
English control verbs
English intransitive verbs
English transitive verbs
----
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 oblige and impose
is that oblige is to do someone a service or favour (hence, originally, creating an obligation) while impose is to establish or apply by authority.In intransitive terms the difference between oblige and impose
is that oblige is to do a service or favour while impose is to be an inconvenience.oblige
English
Verb
(oblig)- I am obliged to report to the police station every week.
- He obliged me by not parking his car in the drive.
- I am obliged to you for your recent help.
- The singer obliged with another song.
Derived terms
* disobligeUsage notes
"Obliged" has largely replaced "obligate"; the latter being more common in the the 17th through 19th centuries.The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996)Anagrams
*References
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.}}