imperative

1. (uncountable, grammar) The grammatical mood expressing an order (see jussive). In English, the imperative form of a verb is the same as that of the bare infinitive.Examples: "The verbs in sentences like "Do it!" and "Say what you like!" are in the imperative."Synonyms: imperative mooduncountable

2. (countable, grammar) A verb in the imperative mood.countable

3. (countable) An essential action, a must: something which is imperative.Examples: "Visiting Berlin is an imperative."; "Anything grandiose or historically based tends to sound flat and banal when it reaches English, partly because translators get stuck between contradictory imperatives: juggling fidelity to the original sense with what is vocally viable, they tend to resort to a genteel fustian which lacks either poetic resonance or demotic realism, adding to a sense of artificiality rather than enhancing credibility."; "The new imperative for investment is the Government's objective to secure carbon-neutral transport emissions by 2040."countable