If you describe a place, organization, or activity as impersonal, you mean that it is not very friendly and makes you feel unimportant because it involves or is used by a large number of people.
[disapproval]
Before then many children were cared for in large impersonal orphanages.
The health service has been criticized for being too impersonal.
2. adjective
If you describe someone's behaviour as impersonal, you mean that they do not show any emotion about the person they are dealing with.
We must be as impersonal as a surgeon with his knife.
I gave Coe an impersonal stare.
Synonyms: detached, neutral, dispassionate, cold More Synonyms of impersonal
impersonallyadverb
The doctor treated Ted gently but impersonally.
3. adjective
An impersonal room or statistic does not give any information about the character of the person to whom it belongs or relates.
The rest of the room was neat and impersonal.
History reduces the carnage to impersonal numbers.
More Synonyms of impersonal
impersonal in British English
(ɪmˈpɜːsənəl)
adjective
1.
without reference to any individual person; objective
an impersonal assessment
2.
devoid of human warmth or sympathy; cold
an impersonal manner
3.
not having human characteristics
an impersonal God
4. grammar
(of a verb) having no logical subject. Usually in English the pronoun it is used in such cases as a grammatical subject, as for example in It is raining
5. grammar
(of a pronoun) not denoting a person
Derived forms
impersonality (imˌpersonˈality)
noun
impersonally (imˈpersonally)
adverb
impersonal in American English
(ɪmˈpɜrsənəl)
adjective
1.
not personal
; specif.,
a.
without connection or reference to any particular person
an impersonal comment
b.
not existing as a person
an impersonal force
2.
not showing human feelings, esp. sympathy or warmth
don't be so cold and impersonal
3. Grammar
a.
designating or of a verb occurring only in the third person singular, in English generally with it as the indefinite subject (Ex.: “it is snowing”)
b.
indefinite
said of pronouns
noun
4.
an impersonal verb or pronoun
Derived forms
impersonality (imˌpersonˈality) (ɪmˈpɜrsəˈnælɪti)
noun
impersonally (imˈpersonally)
adverb
Word origin
LL impersonalis
Examples of 'impersonal' in a sentence
impersonal
The cards were really quick but did feel a little impersonal and are an expensive option.
The Sun (2011)
Religious ceremony feels impersonal to me but somehow here this ritual is necessary.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
This is not an impersonal force.
Christianity Today (2000)
It can feel artificial and impersonal.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
History is shaped by vast, impersonal forces.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Car workers in Detroit are the victims of impersonal economic forces that are depressing global demand.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Managers used to free-flowing kinds of interviews are likely to view structured interviews as cold and impersonal.
Tompkins, Jonathan Human Resource Management in Government (1995)
I suspect it is the impersonal manner of the rejection that my generation finds most cruel.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The danger is that it could easily end up being cold and impersonal, like a miniature airport terminal.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
In one plant where the cuts were implemented, an executive announced the cuts in a curt and impersonal manner.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Grand gestures can feel impersonal.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Many of the new comprehensive schools are very large and impersonal; others are still coping with unsuitable collections of old buildings.
Brown, Muriel & Payne Sarah Introduction to Social Administration in Britain (1990)
By way of contrast, secondary groups are large and impersonal, and often involve fleeting relationships.
Appelbaum, Richard P. Sociology (1995)
Worst feature Lectures of 500 people can feel impersonal.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The worker thus became one cog in a vast, impersonal machine, subject to the abuse and exploitation of the owner.
Appelbaum, Richard P. Sociology (1995)
In other languages
impersonal
British English: impersonal /ɪmˈpɜːsənl/ ADJECTIVE
If you describe a place, organization, or activity as impersonal, you feel that the people there see you as unimportant or unwanted.
...expensive, but rather impersonal hotels.
American English: impersonal
Arabic: مَوْضُوعِي
Brazilian Portuguese: impessoal
Chinese: 没人情味的
Croatian: bezličan
Czech: neosobní
Danish: upersonlig
Dutch: onpersoonlijk
European Spanish: impersonal
Finnish: persoonaton
French: impersonnel
German: unpersönlich
Greek: απρόσωπος
Italian: impersonale
Japanese: 個人にかかわらない
Korean: 비개인적인
Norwegian: upersonlig
Polish: bezosobowy
European Portuguese: impessoal
Romanian: impersonal
Russian: безличный
Latin American Spanish: impersonal
Swedish: opersonlig
Thai: ไม่ให้ความสำคัญ
Turkish: yansız
Ukrainian: безособовий
Vietnamese: lạnh lùng nói trống
Chinese translation of 'impersonal'
impersonal
(ɪmˈpəːsənl)
adj
[place, organization]没(沒)人情味的 (méi rénqíngwèi de)
(= objective)[basis]客观(觀)的 (kèguān de)
1 (adjective)
Definition
without human warmth or sympathy
a large impersonal orphanage
Synonyms
inhuman
cold
remote
She looked so remote.
bureaucratic
2 (adjective)
Definition
without human warmth or sympathy
An executive announced the cuts in a curt and impersonal manner.
Synonyms
detached
The piece is written in a detached, precise style.
neutral
dispassionate
We try to be dispassionate about the cases we bring.
cold
He became cold and unfeeling.
formal
He wrote a very formal letter of apology.
aloof
He seemed aloof and detached.
businesslike
Opposites
personal
,
warm
,
friendly
, intimate,
outgoing
Additional synonyms
in the sense of aloof
Definition
distant or haughty in manner
He seemed aloof and detached.
Synonyms
distant,
cold,
reserved,
cool,
formal,
remote,
forbidding,
detached,
indifferent,
chilly,
unfriendly,
unsympathetic,
uninterested,
haughty,
unresponsive,
supercilious,
unapproachable,
unsociable,
standoffish
in the sense of cold
Definition
lacking in affection or enthusiasm
He became cold and unfeeling.
Synonyms
distant,
reserved,
indifferent,
aloof,
glacial,
cold-blooded,
apathetic,
frigid,
unresponsive,
unfeeling,
passionless,
undemonstrative,
standoffish,
affectless,
phlegmatic,
spiritless
in the sense of dispassionate
Definition
not influenced by emotion
We try to be dispassionate about the cases we bring.