malapert
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of malapert
1375–1425; late Middle English: insolent < Middle French: unskillful. See mal-, pert
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.
A child's outcry, more "malapert" than the priest, called the attention of the lingerers, and before any one knew, the passion of destruction had seized like a frenzy upon the people.
From Royal Edinburgh Her Saints, Kings, Prophets and Poets by Reid, George
"Socrates, thou malapert," said Diogenes sternly, "take my hat off my head at once, and allow me to make obeisance to the lady, or I'll drop thee incontinently on thy back."
From The Laughing Cavalier The Story of the Ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
"My cheerfulness can bear some strain--but the malapert must be permitted to be silent sometimes when there are serious matters to be considered."
From On the Cross A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau by Hillern, Wilhelmine von
Ha! ha!" laughed the oddity who had volunteered this malapert response to the jester's inquiry, "yonder sign-post"—pointing to the aged dame—"has lost its fingers—or rather its ears.
From Under the Rose by Isham, Frederic Stewart
"I will say what I will in mine own house, thou evil, malapert boy!" roared the old man.
From The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot by Everett-Green, Evelyn
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.
