importunity
Americannoun
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the state or quality of being importunate; persistence in solicitation.
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importunities, importunate solicitations or demands.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of importunity
1425–75; late Middle English importunite < Latin importūnitās. See importune, -ity
Explanation
Importunity is when you beg someone to do something. "Please, please take me to the mall!" is probably something said by many teens with importunity. The adjective importunate describes a plea that is so persistent or demanding that it becomes annoying. You can use the noun importunity to describe an example of this kind of pleading. You might ask for a bite of your friend's dessert with importunity, moaning about how hungry you are and how deliciously fudgy her chocolate cake looks. The root of importunity is the Latin importunitatem, which means "unsuitableness or incivility," and comes from importunus, "unfit or troublesome."
Vocabulary lists containing importunity
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
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"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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"The Story of an Hour"
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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.
See Examples For:
Is the almost whimsical Morrow importunity an ideal substitute for angry notes and troops along the border?
From Time Magazine Archive
Her looks and ability soon bring success and a suitor, a white, amiable young financier whose importunity will not hear honest Mimi's tragic secret.
From Time Magazine Archive
Here the gentlemen interposed with earnest petitions to be further enlightened on these two last-named points; but they got only blushes, ejaculations, tremors, and titters, in return for their importunity.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
It was sometimes impossible and always difficult to resist the importunity of influential gentlemen in the neighbourhood, whose ill-will might be a serious thing, whether it showed itself in open violence or in closed purses.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Power, Eileen
Baudricourt, at first, made light of her application; but her importunity, and the ardor she expressed, at length excited him.
From A Legacy to the Friends of Free Discussion by Offen, Benjamin
She does this while offering him no emotional response to his importunities whatsoever.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2024
In her footsteps, women had to take the next move as resisters of unwarranted prejudice: "Sue for your rights and privileges. Know the reason that you cannot attain them. Weary them with your importunities."
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2020
You can turn off your devices but you cannot turn off the knowledge that they are receiving the world’s importunities.
From Time ● Feb. 26, 2015
Only with some difficulty did the world traveler extricate himself from their importunities, but he emerged with wit unblunted.
From Time Magazine Archive
His master would have none of it; but scolded him for his importunities.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
