Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not partial or biased; unprejudiced. synonym: fair.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not partial; not favoring one more than another; unprejudiced; equitable; just: as, an impartial judge or judgment; impartial favors.
  • Indifferent; not taking part.
  • [By apparent association with in part, or else by improper assumption of the prefix as intensive.] Partial.
  • Synonyms Unbiased, fair, honorable, even-handed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not partial; not favoring one more than another; treating all alike; unprejudiced; unbiased; disinterested; equitable; fair; just.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Treating all parties, rivals, or disputants equally; not partial; not biased; fair.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective free from undue bias or preconceived opinions
  • adjective showing lack of favoritism

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From im- + partial

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Examples

  • Such an agent might be impartial between her children with respect to the care they receive (while preferring her own children over others in this respect), and also impartial between the various job candidates; but it is clear that these two uses of the word ˜impartial™ denote very different practices.

    Impartiality Jollimore, Troy 2006

  • Dorn crunched the numbers for more than 60 UN peacekeeping operations, which he describes as impartial, long-term missions that use force only for defence, compared to the Afghan mission where there is combat with a declared enemy...

    I guess deaths on UN-run missions are more noble... 2007

  • Dorn crunched the numbers for more than 60 UN peacekeeping operations, which he describes as impartial, long-term missions that use force only for defence, compared to the Afghan mission where there is combat with a declared enemy...

    Archive 2007-11-01 2007

  • For the BBC to call itself impartial is a sick joke, their political bias is clear and obvious and I am sure that I (and others) could list their built-in prejudices with ease.

    Are the BBC going easy on Labour Not a sheep 2009

  • The Gov, which should be impartial, is picking sides.

    Wonk Room » Fox Attacked Auto Bailout Because It Helped Unions, Now Attacks Auto Bankruptcy Because It…Helps Unions? 2009

  • Everywhere, the ‘authoritative’ spew forth: talking heads, hired to impart wisdom, partial often in impartial guise, complicit in the consumer con-game we call society, where the mediocre is hailed as great!

    2009 February 14 | NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS 2009

  • Everywhere, the ‘authoritative’ spew forth: talking heads, hired to impart wisdom, partial often in impartial guise, complicit in the consumer con-game we call society, where the mediocre is hailed as great!

    Why read Great Literature: the guide to a good life 2009

  • Paul explained that TIOTI has a four-track revenue scheme that will allow them to remain impartial: advertising (they plan to use the site as an Advertising 2.0 laboratory); white-labelling the service; sponsorships; and ratings/download trend reports.

    Beers and Innovation 5: Aggregators and Upsetters « Innovation Cloud 2007

  • "BBC must become more impartial" is the headline on its own take (HERE) on its deep-rooted culture of leftist-liberal bias, implying that it is already impartial and merely needs to adjust a little to become even more so.

    Archive 2007-06-17 2007

  • Paul explained that TIOTI has a four-track revenue scheme that will allow them to remain impartial: advertising (they plan to use the site as an Advertising 2.0 laboratory); white-labelling the service; sponsorships; and ratings/download trend reports.

    February « 2007 « Innovation Cloud 2007

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