Impinges

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To come into contact or strike against something ; to have an effect or influence on a situation or condition
2. To hit or touch something sharply or suddenly ; to impact or influence a process, condition, or environment
3. To physically strike or collide with an object ; to exert influence that changes or affects something else

Etymology: "Impinges" is the third-person singular present form of "impinge," so its history is that of the verb itself. The verb was borrowed from Latin "impingere," meaning "to dash against" or "to strike at," built from "in-" ("into, against") and "pangere" ("to fix, drive in"). The image is physical: something driven forcefully into or against another thing. The English sense of striking or pressing against something stayed close to that Latin picture, while the figurative sense of encroaching on or affecting something (a right, a process, a habit) developed later from the same idea of force directed onto a target. The word is a close relative of "impact," which comes from the same Latin verb through its past participle, so the two words share a root while having taken different paths into English.

Synonyms: collides, encroaches, interferes, intrudes, infringes

Antonyms: avoids, recedes, withdraws, shuns, deflects