insistent
Americanadjective
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earnest or emphatic in dwelling upon, maintaining, or demanding something; persistent; pertinacious.
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compelling attention or notice.
an insistent tone.
adjective
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making continual and persistent demands
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demanding notice or attention; compelling
the insistent cry of a bird
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of insistent
1615–25; < Latin insistent- (stem of in-sistēns ), present participle of insistere. See insist, -ent
Explanation
Insistent means "unwilling to let go or back down." If a salesperson is insistent, you may find it hard to walk away without buying something. Insistent shares a root with the verb insist: the Latin word insistere, which means "persist, dwell upon, stand upon." If you are insistent, you won't take "no" for an answer, dwelling on your ideas, standing up for your position. Insistent can also mean "demanding attention," like the insistent ringing of the telephone at a busy office or the insistent cries of a hungry baby.
Vocabulary lists containing insistent
Unit 1: Telling Details
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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"The Metamorphosis," Vocabulary from the novella
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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 officials pressing to raise rates are the more insistent, and a few of them are candidates to dissent if rates stay on hold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
But Crouch is insistent the price rises are justified, saying there is particularly high inflation in the sector.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
And the “Laudamus Te,” with its insistent back-and-forth reiteration of the simplest consonant harmonies, sounds like a prefiguration of Virgil Thomson’s “Four Saints in Three Acts.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
And I’m wondering why, if you can make sense of the fact that he is so insistent on getting these projects done, when there doesn’t seem to be any obvious political benefit to him.
From Slate ● May 7, 2026
Throughout the long history of the family the insistent repetition of names had made her draw some conclusions that seemed to be certain.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
