IMPERIOUS

disdainful, haughty, imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful, sniffy, supercilious, swaggering

(adjective) having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy; “some economists are disdainful of their colleagues in other social disciplines”; “haughty aristocrats”; “his lordly manners were offensive”; “walked with a prideful swagger”; “very sniffy about breaches of etiquette”; “his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air”; “a more swaggering mood than usual”- W.L.Shirer

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

imperious (not comparable)

Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing.

Urgent.

(obsolete) Imperial or regal.

Synonyms

• (domineering): authoritarian, bossy, dictatorial, domineering, overbearing

Source: Wiktionary

Im*pe"ri*ous, a. Etym: [L. imperiosus: cf. F. impérieux. See Imperial.]

1. Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [Obs.] "A vast and imperious mind." Tilloison. Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness, Imperious. Shak.

2. Haughly; arrogant; overbearing; as, an imperious tyrant; an imperious manner. This imperious man will work us all From princes into pages. Shak. His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon made him conspicuous. Macaulay.

3. Imperative; urgent; compelling. Imperious need, which can not be withstood. Dryden.

Syn.

– Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly; tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative; authoritative; commanding; pressing.

– Imperious, Lordly, Domineering. One who is imperious exercises his authority in a manner highly offensive for its spirit and tone; one who is lordly assumes a lofty air in order to display his importance; one who is domineering gives orders in a way to make other feel their inferiority.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition