Why did Claude Debussy dislike the term Impressionism for his music?

The term "Impressionism" was introduced to describe Claude Debussy’s music by analogy with contemporary French painting. However, Debussy himself disliked the label, as it was considered somewhat vague when applied to musical compositions.1

While Debussy’s work often shared aesthetic goals with Impressionist painters—such as a focus on instrumental timbres to create shimmering "colours" and an avoidance of traditional musical form—he viewed his creative process as a constant exploration of new ground rather than adherence to a specific movement. His music was characterized by a rejection of 19th-century academic harmonic procedures in favor of a more original, exploratory approach to sound and structure.123