What does impartial mean?
Word: Impartial
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Impartial means fair to everyone, without supporting one side or person more than another.
Synonyms: fair, unbiased, even-handed, just
Antonyms: biased, unfair, prejudiced
How do you spell impartial?
Syllables: im - par - tial
Tricky part: The 'shul' sound at the end is spelt -tial, not -cial or -shal.
Watch out for: imparcial, impartical, impertial
Memory tip: Partial, initial and essential all spell their 'shul' ending t-i-a-l, and impartial follows them.
Impartial in a sentence
Example 1: The umpire must stay impartial, even when his home team is batting.
Example 2: We chose Kiran to count the votes because everyone trusted her to be impartial.
Example 3: A good newspaper report gives an impartial account of both sides.
Fun Fact
Partial can also mean fond of, as in 'I am partial to mangoes'. Impartial uses only the other sense, of not taking sides.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
The judges promised to be completly impartial, so nobody could guess which school they suported.
a) 0
b) 3
c) 1
d) 2
Show answer
d) 2. Impartial is correct here; completely keeps its e before ly, and supported has a double p.
Word Puzzle
Match each word in the first list with the right word in the second list:
1. impartial 2. frank 3. robust a. strong b. neutral c. honest
a) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
b) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
c) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
d) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
Show answer
c) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a. Impartial is close to neutral, frank to honest and robust to strong.
Spell Spies
Choose the pair which has a spelling error:
a) impartial : unbiased
b) quick : rapid
c) brave : corageous
d) calm : peaceful
Show answer
c) brave : corageous. Courageous keeps the ou of courage.
Word Fusion
Which two options complete the word?
____ partial ____ 1. in 2. im 3. un 4. ness 5. ly 6. ment
a) 2 and 5
b) 1 and 5
c) 2 and 6
d) 3 and 4
Show answer
a) 2 and 5. Im + partial + ly builds impartially, which means in a fair way.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Why must the judge of a drawing competition be impartial?
a) so that the hall stays quiet
b) so that her friend always wins
c) so that the contest ends quickly
d) so that no entry gets special treatment
Show answer
d) so that no entry gets special treatment
2. A judge who always favours her own town's team is NOT impartial. Which word describes her?
a) one-sided
b) cheerful
c) careful
d) patient
Show answer
a) one-sided
