Meaning & use
impulsive purchase
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
something you buy suddenly because you want it at that moment, without planning or thinking carefully.
Grammar: Countable: you can say an impulsive purchase or impulsive purchases.
Patterns
- make an impulsive purchase
- an impulsive purchase of something
I went in for milk and made an impulsive purchase of an expensive watch.
She regretted her impulsive purchase as soon as she got home.
The store is designed to encourage impulsive purchases near the checkout.
noununcountabletechnical
the act of buying something suddenly without planning.
Grammar: Uncountable when talking about the activity in general: Impulsive purchase is common among teenagers.
Patterns
- impulsive purchase of something
- impulsive purchase behavior
The study examined impulsive purchase among online shoppers.
Impulsive purchase often increases during sales events.
Word forms
| plural | impulsive purchases |
|---|
Common combinations
- make an impulsive purchase
- He made an impulsive purchase of a new phone.
- regret an impulsive purchase
- She often regrets her impulsive purchases.
- impulsive purchase behavior
- The app targets impulsive purchase behavior.
- avoid impulsive purchases
- Making a list helps you avoid impulsive purchases.
Synonyms and how they differ
- impulse buy
- More informal and common in everyday speech; impulsive purchase sounds slightly more formal or technical.
- spur-of-the-moment purchase
- Emphasizes the sudden timing rather than the lack of thought; it can be slightly more neutral.
Opposites
Word family
- impulse noun
- A sudden strong urge to do something.
- impulsively adverb
- In a sudden way, without thinking first.
Commonly confused: impulsive purchase or compulsive purchase?
impulsive purchase vs compulsive purchase
Compulsive means you cannot control the urge and do it repeatedly; impulsive means you do it quickly without planning, but you could control it.
Practice
She bought the shoes on a whim. It was a(n) ______ purchase.
Choose one answer.
Impulsive is the adjective that describes a sudden, unplanned purchase. Compulsive suggests a loss of control, impulsion is a rare noun, and impulsively is an adverb, which cannot modify the noun purchase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “impulsive purchase”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.