importunate
Americanadjective
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urgent or persistent in solicitation, sometimes annoyingly so.
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pertinacious, as solicitations or demands.
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troublesome; annoying.
importunate demands from the children for attention.
adjective
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persistent or demanding; insistent
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rare troublesome; annoying
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of importunate
Explanation
Importunate means annoyingly persistent or relentless, like a cranky child's importunate demands for candy in line at the grocery store checkout. Importunate rhymes with unfortunate, and importunate questions, in their irritating persistence, are unfortunate indeed. Importunate restaurant patrons tend to inundate their unfortunate waiter with demands, and one student's importunate questions can keep a teacher busy through an entire class period. You'll see in importunate the Latin root port, which means "harbor." From this came importunus, "troublesome," but also "having no harbor."
Vocabulary lists containing importunate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Importunate telegrams flashed from the President's Palace to Brer Briand at Geneva begging him to become Premier for the twelfth time.
From Time Magazine Archive
Importunate memories shrill in my ears Like the gnats that die in the spider web.
From Eight Harvard Poets by Cummings, E. Estlin
Hence, when she shows her honest face, And tells her tale with awkward grace, Importunate to gain a place Amongst your friends, To ruthless critics leave her case, And hail her ends.
From Cottage Poems by Brontë, Patrick
The question hangs unanswered, like an unwise prayer, Importunate, but powerless response to bring; Go ask the voyagers, the rovers everywhere— They only say it is their rest-time, outing, their Vacationing.
From Poems Vol. IV by Howard, Hattie
His supplication, then, Importunate to Juno thus he turn'd.
From The Iliad of Homer Translated into English Blank Verse by William Cowper by Cowper, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
