impost

impost — noun

1. an official charge that a government requires people or businesses to pay, often

1.nounC2
Definition

an official charge that a government requires people or businesses to pay, often on goods coming into or leaving the country.

Example

The new government removed the heavy impost on imported rice.

impost on + imported goods

Farmers protested the impost that the king placed on their grain.

impost placed on + commodity

Common collocations
  • heavy impost
  • impost on imports
  • lift an impost
  • remove an impost
Synonyms
  • tax

    the everyday word; 'impost' is more formal and old-fashioned

  • duty

    specifically a tax on imported or exported goods

  • levy

    an amount of money officially demanded, often for a single purpose

  • tariff

    a tax on goods crossing a border, especially imports

Grammar Patterns

impost on + noun

Usage Note

Mainly used in formal, historical, or legal writing about taxes and customs duties. Modern everyday English prefers 'tax', 'duty', or 'levy'.

Common Mistakes

I paid an impost at the supermarket.
I paid sales tax at the supermarket.
'impost' sounds wrong for ordinary daily taxes; use it for formal or historical contexts.

2. the flat stone or block at the top of a column or wall on which the curved part

2.nounC2
Definition

the flat stone or block at the top of a column or wall on which the curved part of an arch rests.

Example

The stonemason carefully shaped the impost before the arch was built.

shape / carve the impost

Each impost in the old church was carved with small flowers.

decorated impost in a building

Common collocations
  • carved impost
  • stone impost
  • impost of an arch
  • impost block
Synonyms
  • springer

    the lowest stone of an arch, sitting directly on the impost

  • capital

    the top part of a column; an impost can sit on a capital

Grammar Patterns

impost of + structure

Usage Note

A technical term in architecture and stonework. Most readers will only meet it in books about old buildings, churches, or castles.

Common Mistakes

The impost is the curved part of the arch.
The impost is the flat block under the arch.
the impost supports the arch; it is not the arch itself.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Tax' is the everyday general term for money the government takes from people or businesses. 'Duty' usually means a tax on goods that cross a border, especially when imported. 'Tariff' is very close to 'duty' but often refers to a whole official list of import charges set by a country. 'Levy' is a more formal word for an amount officially demanded, often for one specific purpose, such as a flood levy. 'Impost' is the most formal and old-fashioned of the group; today it appears mostly in legal documents and history books, often about taxes on trade. For example, a shopper pays a sales tax, an importer pays a customs duty, a country sets a new tariff on steel, the city raises a small levy for road repairs, and a historian writes about colonial imposts on tea.

tax ↗duty ↗levy ↗tariff ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • impost block
  • import impost
  • colonial impost

Phrases

  • heavy impost
  • lift an impost
  • remove an impost

Prepositions

  • impost on
  • impost of

Etymology

LatinMiddle FrenchEnglish

Comes from Late Latin 'impositum', the past participle of 'imponere', meaning 'to place on' or 'to lay upon'. It entered English in the 1500s through Middle French 'impost'. The tax meaning came first, from the idea of something 'laid upon' a person or product. The architecture meaning, also borrowed from French, uses the same image of a stone 'placed on top of' a column.