impertinent

American  

[im-pur-tn-uhnt] / ɪmˈpɜr tn ənt /

adjective

1. intrusive or presumptuous, as persons or their actions; insolently rude; uncivil.

   a brash, impertinent youth.

   Synonyms:

   brazen, pert, saucy, officious, insulting, bold, fresh

   Antonyms:

   polite

2. not pertinent or relevant; irrelevant.

   an impertinent detail.

3. Archaic. inappropriate, incongruous, or absurd.

4. Obsolete. (of persons) trivial, silly, or absurd.

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impertinent British  

/ ɪmˈpɜːtɪnənt /

adjective

1. rude; insolent; impudent

2. irrelevant or inappropriate

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Synonym Usage

Impertinent, impudent, insolent refer to bold, rude, and arrogant behavior. Impertinent, from its primary meaning of not pertinent and hence inappropriate or out of place, has come to imply often an unseemly intrusion into what does not concern one, or a presumptuous rudeness toward one entitled to deference or respect: an impertinent interruption, question, manner toward a teacher. Impudent suggests a bold and shameless impertinence: an impudent speech, young rascal. Insolent suggests insulting or arrogantly contemptuous behavior: unbearably insolent toward those in authority.

Other Word Forms

• impertinently
  adverb
• impertinentness
  noun
• unimpertinent
  adjective
• unimpertinently
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of impertinent

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English from Late Latin impertinent- (stem of impertinēns ) “not belonging.” See im- ², pertinent

Explanation

If someone's rude without being openly nasty, like a kid in the back row of class quietly heckling his teacher, you can call him impertinent. Impertinent originally meant just what it sounds like, "not pertinent, irrelevant," but it also came to mean "inappropriate, out of place" and therefore "intrusive, presumptuous; behaving without proper respect; insolent." It still carries a condescending air, so it's best used of or to a child being snippy to a grownup: "Don't be impertinent!" The stress is on the second syllable: im-PERT-inent.

Example Sentences

Impertinent psychologising possessed me while the film redeemed itself with a splendidly Shakespearean car and train smash.

From The Guardian • Mar. 31, 2016

But Ana Maria, blue-blooded daughter of a wealthy Bahian cattle rancher, industrialist and political potentate, sniffed: "Impertinent and presumptuous."

From Time Magazine Archive

The underplot, according to Boyle, is derived from Cervantes' Curious Impertinent, and in Acts I. and II. passages “are literally taken from that novel.”

From Philip Massinger by Cruickshank, A. H.

Impertinent intrusion was never permitted in those days.

From Windjammers and Sea Tramps by Runciman, Walter

Impertinent curiosity is offensive, not only because it shews an indifference to the feelings of the person questioned, but because it savours of gratuitous interference in his affairs.

From Progressive Morality An Essay in Ethics by Fowler, Thomas