Link Centre Dictionary

impair

im·pair

UK/ɪmˈpɛə/ US/ɪmˈpɛː/ fairly common

verb

1.

make worse or less effective

  • “His vision was impaired”
2.

make imperfect

  • “nothing marred her beauty”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English impairen, empeiren, from Old French empeirier, from Early Medieval Latin impeiōrāre, from in- + Late Latin peiōrāre (“worsen”), from peiōrem (“worse”), comparative of malus (“bad”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.