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 persons must take their chance of being well served.
From Hypatia — or New Foes with an Old Face by Kingsley, Charles
Importunate scruples were added to temptation, and while thus violently assailed on many sides, she seemed not to receive light or comfort from any.
From The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation by Religious of the Ursuline Community, A
Importunate clients, who would make appointments at unseasonable hours and would keep to them, might confide in the partner, though they would not in the clerk.
From A Dark Night's Work by Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
He was a student of the Academy, and soon attracted attention by The Forsaken, Lovers' Quarrels, and The Importunate Author, which were exhibited at the British Institution.
From English Painters with a chapter on American painters by Koehler, S. R.
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.
