| noun | an instinctive motive “profound religious impulses” |
| noun | a sudden desire “he bought it on an impulse” |
| noun | the electrical discharge that travels along a nerve fiber “they demonstrated the transmission of impulses from the cortex to the hypothalamus” |
| noun | (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients) “the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star” |
| noun | the act of applying force suddenly “the impulse knocked him over” |
| noun | an impelling force or strength “the car's momentum carried it off the road” |
| capricious | adjective | determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason |
| pulsate | verb | produce or modulate (as electromagnetic waves) in the form of short bursts or pulses or cause an apparatus to produce pulses |
| pulse | verb | produce or modulate (as electromagnetic waves) in the form of short bursts or pulses or cause an apparatus to produce pulses |
| impel | verb | cause to move forward with force |