One way to picture it: the person has been taken out. Whatever is left still works — it answers, it processes, it stands there — but there is no particular human showing through it.
From the word’s history
From Latin impersōnālis: im- (not) + persōnālis (personal, of a person) — literally 'not of a person'.
這個詞從法文 impersonnel 進來，源頭是拉丁文 impersōnālis：im-（不）＋ persōnālis（屬於人的）。字面就是「不屬於某個人的」，所以三個現代用法其實都在同一條線上——差別只在被抽掉的「人」是誰：說話者的溫度、一個空間裡的人味，還是句子裡的主語。
Payload etymology (French impersonnel < Latin impersōnālis, im- + persōnālis), matching Wiktionary.
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原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
impersonaladj/ɪmˈpɝsənəl/
- 1
Not personal; not representing a person; not having personality.
- The great tragedians of Greece reveal to us their people's exquisite sense of beauty, and their faith in an awful, an almighty, but an impersonal power, called Fate
- 2
Lacking warmth or emotion; cold.
- She sounded impersonal as she gave her report of the Nazi death camps.
- And now it appeared that there was a mysterious Queen clothed by rumour with dread and wonderful attributes, and commonly known by the impersonal, but, to my mind, rather awesome title of She.
- 3
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsNot having a subject, or having a third person pronoun without an antecedent.
- The verb “rain” is impersonal in sentences like “It’s raining.”
impersonalnoun/ɪmˈpɝsənəl/
- 1
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsAn impersonal word or construct.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。