How to Use imperial in a Sentence

imperial

1 of 2 adjective
  • My dream was to reach the imperial round.
    — George Packer, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2025
  • As well as harkening back to the great imperial legacies of the czars.
    — CBS News, 7 Dec. 2022
  • Butler had more even ground to fight on — first the sands of the arena, then the smooth tiles of the imperial palace.
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 3 Mar. 2024
  • That’s almost like calling an imperial stout a light beer.
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 4 June 2026
  • Imperial turns a rich golden orange in fall.
    — Special To The Denver Post, Denver Post, 1 May 2026
  • But most of them are not imperial governors nor at risk of becoming one.
    — Raymond Scheppach, Fortune, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Chests puffed up with victory for a time, but soon new imperial worries bent shoulders and backs.
    — Literary Hub, 26 May 2026
  • His goal is not public safety but rather imperial power.
    — Jason Ma, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2025
  • For a wedge salad, try an IPA, a porter or a stout, but not an imperial one.
    — Jay R. Brooks, Mercury News, 29 Aug. 2025
  • You’ll be reminded of the many great sky battles between rebel and imperial forces the movies have given us over the years.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 25 May 2026
  • The colonists had been making this point for more than a decade, linking imperial taxes and the courts charged with enforcing them.
    — Joseph Thorndike, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
  • But what about the cruel swindle of the slave trade, and of imperial domination?
    — Lynn Steger Strong, The New Republic, 15 Sep. 2023
  • As with many imperial laws, compliance may not have been absolute.
    — Literary Hub, 15 Apr. 2026
  • The wrench doubles as a metric/imperial caliper measure, and triples as a bottle opener.
    — New Atlas, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Enough of these imperial massacres.
    — Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
  • We Pekingese are reared on shark fins, curlew liver, and the breast of quail; for drink, the milk of antelopes that pasture in imperial parks.
    — Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Its causes are structural, and can be traced back through centuries of colonial plunder and imperial excess.
    — Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 20 Dec. 2022
  • The show is built of three-episode arcs, most of which feature a new location and, largely, a new cast, from the imperial heist to the floating prison.
    — Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 17 Feb. 2023
  • The imperial capital has many beautiful buildings, and they are always kept tidy and clean.
    — Christopher Hooks, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026
  • One plan replaces the Greek columns framing the main entrance with a more imperial version.
    — Theodore R. Johnson, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Here was a man who, faced with Britain’s imperial collapse, did not cower but dashed around the world with a dinner jacket and a pistol.
    — Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2024
  • An imperial stout aged for over a year in Hogshead Whiskey barrels with sweet cherries, cocoa, and cold brew coffee.
    — oregonlive, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Herod Antipas, who was raised in Rome, was well known to Augustus and his imperial court.
    — Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The emperor, or the giver of the Games with imperial permission, was in control of the day.
    — Literary Hub, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Once again, the show occupies the timeline after the fall of the Empire, where the threat of imperial remnants lingers.
    — Brian Lowry, CNN, 22 Aug. 2023
  • The imperial stout base was first aged in bourbon barrels for a year and then transferred to Ruby Port barrels for a year.
    — Em Sauter, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
  • The strings and woodwinds play off each other, creating a moment that’s both ethereal and imperial.
    — Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Cumming’s post comes amid a growing backlash against the monarchy for its role in British imperial history.
    — Niamh Kennedy, CNN, 27 Jan. 2023
  • Imperial sophomore Elynna Jimenez scored 17 points and blocked three shots.
    — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Feb. 2026
  • The bee was the French imperial emblem and also the emblem of Clovis, first king of the Francs.
    — Thomas Adamson, Fortune, 9 June 2023

imperial

2 of 2 noun
  • The seasoning is a must for steamed crabs and perfect for crab cakes, crab imperials, and the like.
    — Dan Rodricks, baltimoresun.com, 12 May 2017
  • Stouts, porters and imperials are also staples in winter and mainstays on craft beer menus.
    — Dahlia Ghabour, The Courier-Journal, 9 Dec. 2019
  • Bunches of bananas were sold to press and protestors, all weighed in good old-fashioned imperial, of course.
    — James Vincent, The Verge, 16 Jan. 2023
  • Intentionally or not, Nichols’s imagery shows us that the intimate and the imperial in the American West were one and the same.
    — Sarah Blackwood, The New Yorker, 18 July 2021
  • But the senior water right is one the Imperial Irrigation District plans to staunchly defend.
    — Ella Nilsen, CNN, 30 Jan. 2023
  • Bryan Ashurst, who sends his bees north from California’s Imperial Valley to pollinate almond trees, said some hives were washed away by flooding.
    — Amy Taxin, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2023
  • When gathered together, the medieval with the modern, the national with the imperial, and the abundant with the rare, these diverse monetary objects provide a bird’s-eye view of the last millennia.
    — Ellen Feingold, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 July 2022
  • That would hit California farmers in places such as the Imperial Valley - who suck up a lot of the river and have rights to it that predate cities - particularly hard.
    — Joshua Partlow, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Crown Imperial Give your garden the royal treatment with crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis).
    — Nicole Bradley, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Sep. 2022
  • And while the New Republic’s bureaucratic progress moves at a glacial pace, former imperials are forming a new evil superpower – a fascist government that will eventually become the First Order and take over the galaxy.
    — Scottie Andrew, CNN, 4 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imperial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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