Skip to main content
Urban Dictionary Merch
Your favorite words on things you can wear, drink from, read, or give to a friend.
The Urban Dictionary Store sells gifts you’ll have to explain.

IMperative 

An IMperative (eye-em-pear-ative) is a sentence in an online conversation that is generally harmless except for when punctuated. This can lead to the recipient feeling the sender is issuing an imperative, often inappropriately, and respond harshly. Often observed in conversations between an illiterate douchebag and an English major.
2:53 Bob: man im so wasted
2:53 Bob: i think i need to do
2:53 Bob: my hw
2:54 Susie: Fine - go do your homework.
4:05 Bob: hey
4:05 Bob: FUck Off.
16:13 Bob: You IMperative loving whore
IMperative by JP L May 23, 2007

institutional imperative 

1.how an entire organization can rise up to help a boss justify some deal he’s inclined to do, regardless of its merit
2. any company’s inherent propensity to do dumb things (or avoid doing smart things) simply for the sake of doing them.
1. The stock market collapse was encourage by many respected investors by participating in the overarching fininacial industry institutional imperative of rolling over debt and reselling them as investments.
2. Warren Buffett in discusing the motivation of bankers and institutional leadership in a 1989 letter. Believes that Institutions are built to appease the wishes of a few in leadership positions, to the point that employees are convinced that they are justified in all of their actions regardless of the effect. Specifically in addressing the needs and motivation of bankers, who will encourage any deal regardless of merit.

2. “Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.”"It was his thinly veiled dig at Wall Street bankers and the perverse incentive system for corporate “advice” on mergers and acquisitions — namely that bankers are paid only if a deal is completed. (Bankers typically earn nothing if a deal is abandoned or collapses, giving them little reason to recommend against pursuing a transaction.)"

It was a timely note from

copulatory imperative 

A term used to describe males of all species. This is the explanation as to why every man is a womanizer. It clarifies why men are constantly on the move, cannot entirely commit and are consistently unfaithful. In the movie, Someone Like You, Ashley Judd’s character explains that men are habitually on the quest for "the new cow" so they can fulfill their "copulatory imperative."

Like a voracious lion seeking lunch in the Sahara, guys want to spread their seed eternally. This powerful force causes them to seek out a new and different woman after they've slept with a perfectly wonderful one. Thus, men are innately barbaric and rest assured they will never be fully domesticated.
Baby girl, what was Donald D. thinking? You're amazing. Why would leave you and sleep with that naaasty hoe?

Oh, because he just couldn’t overcome his copulatory imperative.

Moral imperative 

A moral imperative is a matter of what's inside the person's mind that will compel them on how to act. It's an act of their reason, and why they choose to do so.
Her moral imperative is the reason why she does what she wants to do.
Moral imperative by Individualise November 2, 2014

poo-imperative 

The undeniable need to take a dump that happens after one has held it back for as long as one can. The state of mind when one's bowels decree that they must be evacuated immediately.
self -"I really don't want to use a gas station bathroom..."
ass -"poo-imperative!!"
self -"dag yo"
poo-imperative by AKAStavros November 6, 2009

categorical imperative 

A definition with teeth.

Professors will have you study this forever. Here's what you need to know. It means what it sounds like: an imperative (commandment) that you either follow, or you'll be reclassified as immoral.

Kant had his, and many people think his was the only one, but it's not true. A categorical imperative is a definition-based morality. Even the Utilitarians use them.
What will happen if I do something immoral?

You'll have done something immoral.

Oh, it's a categorical imperative.
More from Urban Dictionary

Oblication 

A vacation, feeling more like an obligation, that involves visiting or staying with family.
So Joe where are you taking the kids for spring break vacation? We are going on an oblication to Boca to visit my mother-in-law.
Oblication by kimmerr May 5, 2011
Word of the Day on October 25, 2026

Surf Dracula Syndrome 

A phenomenon in film/television series, most notably streaming series, where the main premise is drawn out to such a point that it takes an entire season or more to get the parts of the series the audience is actually interested in seeing.

For example, if a series is titled "Surf Dracula," a majority of viewers would tune in expecting to see Dracula surfing by the first or second episode. However, the entire first season would instead be tedious padding and backstory before finally ending with Dracula surfing in the last five minutes of the season finale.
I watched "Smallville" on Netflix the other day. Dude, it was ten seasons of filler before he finally flew! Major Surf Dracula Syndrome!
Word of the Day on October 24, 2026

Northstarring

Finding your way back to the truth by fixing on one verified fact and working out from there, the way you navigate by the North Star when everything around you is spinning.
Rumours were flying everywhere, so she went northstarring — one checked fact at a time.
Northstarring by Light Bearer October 22, 2026
Word of the Day on October 23, 2026

Plate of Brown 

A plate of brown consists of foods that have little to no nutritional value, and are typically deep fried. A true plate of brown will also be accompanied by a dark soda.
Wanna go to meal hall & grab a plate of brown?
Plate of Brown by Cheddar Craigson September 18, 2020
Word of the Day on October 22, 2026

Larpenomics

When finance content creators rent out fancy cars and flex cash to seem richer than they really are in order to promote and sell their “get rich quick” courses.
Andrew Tate has mastered the field of larpenomics
Larpenomics by Rbois09 October 21, 2026
Word of the Day on October 21, 2026
Load more