pending and impending

Pending means awaiting an outcome (e.g., a decision, a settlement, a conclusion, or a confirmation).

Impending means imminent or about to happen. It often carries a negative connotation.

Pending and Impending

Pending and impending are close in meaning. Most Thesauruses will offer one as a synonym for the other, but they're not the same. Whilst confusing these words does not constitute a grammatical howler, you might portray yourself as a muddled thinker if you use the wrong one.

Pending

The adjective pending means awaiting an outcome (e.g., a decision, a settlement, a conclusion, or a confirmation). For example: Pending can also be used as a preposition:

Impending

The adjective impending means imminent or about to happen. It often carries a negative connotation (i.e., the imminent event will be bad). For example:

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See Also

What are adjectives? What are prepositions? Glossary of easily confused words