According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), the verb impose has more than a dozen meanings. The term comes from the Latin word imponĕre .
The notion of imposing can refer to establishing an obligation or a burden . For example: “The pact is responsible for imposing various obligations on the parties that sign it,” “The government is analyzing the possibility of imposing a new rate on real estate transactions whose value exceeds one million pesos,” “The president plans to impose tariffs on the importation of luxury cars .
Imposing also alludes, especially in the field of sport , to triumphing or overcoming an opponent : “The German driver once again prevailed in Formula 1 and is close to winning a new title” , “If the local team intends to impose "I never thought I would prevail in a tournament of these characteristics, the truth is that I am surprised and happy . "
In this framework, however, we must point out that the verb is not used as in the previous meanings but in its reflexive form. A reflexive verb is one that is conjugated by adding an unstressed pronoun , which must agree in both gender and number. Continuing with the case of imposing , let's look at all the possible constructions of this type: impose me (I), impose you (you), impose yourself (him), impose us (us), impose yourself (you) / impose yourself (you), impose yourself (they) . As we can notice, the unstressed pronoun appears in three cases: he , you and them , that is, the first person of the singular, the second and the third of the plural, respectively.
The idea of prevailing over a rival can be used in various contexts beyond sport, although it always denotes some type of competition. In the field of business, for example, when one company prevails over another, we understand that it manages to attract a larger audience or that its proposals are the most accepted. In a similar way, we can say that a product prevails over another if it achieves more sales or more positive reviews from the media.
Asserting power or authority is another action that can be mentioned as imposing: “If I have to impose myself on the rest of my teammates, I will do it,” “When a disagreement arises, the captain is the one who must impose himself to make the decisions.” ” , “The governor managed to prevail and in the end the dates of the elections will not be modified” .
This meaning may be similar to the previous one in terms of the use of the reflexive form, but it has a different nuance: while in a sporting or business competition the factor that determines success is talent or the development of an effective tactic, in this In this case we are talking about an action that is carried out by force , making use of the privileges that our position within a certain hierarchy gives us or achieving the respect that was being unfairly denied to us.
Placing something on top of someone, being essential or necessary and giving a name , finally, can be called imposing: “Now the healer is going to lay his hands on the head of the sick person,” “If the fire continues to advance, the local government will probably impose the evacuation of the town” , “The mayor will be in charge of imposing the name of the station” .
Here we enter the realm of impositions , which can be understood as orders that are impossible or difficult to ignore. If a government imposes the evacuation of a town, citizens do not have the possibility of refusing, since it is a closed decision that they must obey to avoid committing a crime.