Meaning & use
impugn
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Meaning
verbtransitiveformal
To question or attack the honesty, motives or reliability of a person or thing.
Grammar: Takes an object such as a person's integrity: impugn his honesty.
Patterns
- impugn someone's motives
- impugn something
The lawyer tried to impugn the witness's honesty.
I don't mean to impugn your integrity, but I need proof.
Critics impugned the study's methods.
Word forms
| third person singular | impugns |
|---|---|
| past tense | impugned |
| past participle | impugned |
| -ing form | impugning |
Common combinations
- impugn someone's integrity
- The memo impugned the director's integrity.
- impugn someone's motives
- Don't impugn my motives just because I disagree.
- impugn a witness
- The defense tried to impugn the witness.
- impugn the credibility
- Emails were used to impugn the expert's credibility.
- openly impugn
- He openly impugned the committee.
Synonyms and how they differ
- challenge
- Challenge is general and can be positive, while impugn is always critical and aimed at honor or truth.
- question
- Question is mild and may just seek answers, whereas impugn suggests an attack.
- discredit
- Discredit means to destroy trust, but impugn focuses on the act of attacking.
- malign
- Malign means to speak ill of someone, often unfairly, while impugn disputes honesty or validity.
Opposites
Word family
- impugnable adjective
- open to attack or doubt
- impugnment noun
- the act of challenging someone's honesty
- unimpugned adjective
- not questioned or attacked
- pugnacious adjective
- from the same Latin root meaning fight, eager to quarrel
Commonly confused: impugn or impute? impugn or impugn vs impune?
impugn vs impute
Impute means to attribute something, usually blame, to someone; impugn means to attack their honesty.
impugn vs impugn vs impune
The standard spelling is impugn, with a silent g; impune is a misspelling and not an English word.
Practice
The lawyer tried to ______ the witness by pointing out past lies.
Choose one answer.
Impugn means to attack someone's honesty. Impute is tempting but means to attribute, usually to blame.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “impugn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.