Importunate
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An importuner.
"This will put an Answer into the Kings mouth, against all importunates."
- 1 To importune, or to obtain by importunity. rare
"All which notwithstanding, I obtained licence at length to make my supplication to the noble Parliament house; but I could find no messengers till Sir John Seton went, whom I importunated daily to obtain me favor for my return home again."
- 1 Persistent or pressing, often annoyingly so.
"Nick was on the point of declaring again that he was a humbug, so vivid was his inner sense of what he thought of his factitious public utterances, which had the cursed property of creating dreadful responsibilities and importunate credulities for him."
- 2 Given to importunate demands, greedily or thoughtlessly demanding.
- 1 expressing persistent and earnest entreaty wordnet
- 2 persistent to the point of annoying wordnet
Example
More examples"Mary said that Tom was too importunate, or something along those lines."
Etymology
First attested in 1477, in Middle english; from Latin importūnus + -ate (adjective-forming suffix), modelled on Middle French importuné. By surface analysis, importune + -ate. The noun was substantivized from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
First attested in 1574; adapted borrowing of French importuner (“to bother, disturb”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.