importunate
Americanadjective
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urgent or persistent in solicitation, sometimes annoyingly so.
-
pertinacious, as solicitations or demands.
-
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.
The number, a duet for Victoria and Jonquil, doesn’t make importunate emotional demands and is all the more poignant for its restraint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2025
In his review in The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that the concert was dominated by “hardheaded women and eagerly importunate men in the eternal strivings of young love.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2017
“You’re looking especially lovely today, sweetheart,” shouts James Corden’s importunate costermonger from his market stall during The Lady in the Van.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 5, 2015
And maybe this is just me, but I preferred the Kermit/Miss Piggy relationship in its latency phase, when the importunate Piggy only occasionally bothered the reluctant frog with baby talk and kissy noises.
From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2014
At that point, I felt an importunate tap, almost a punch, on my upper arm, from Charles’ direction.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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.
