Insolent

adj, noun

adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who is insolent.

    "What a way do you put yourself in miss! said the insolent."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Insulting in manner or words, particularly in an arrogant or insubordinate manner.

    "Near-synonyms: arrogant, bold, cocky; see also Thesaurus:cheeky"

  2. 2
    Rude.

    "Near-synonyms: insubordinate, offensive; see also Thesaurus:arrogant"

Adjective
  1. 1
    unrestrained by convention or propriety wordnet
  2. 2
    marked by casual disrespect wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
arrogantdisrespectfularrogantcockyimpertinentabusive

Example

More examples

"These bank employees seem so politely insolent lately. I wonder what's behind it."

Etymology

PIE word *swé From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin īnsolēns (“unaccustomed, unwanted, unusual, immoderate, excessive, arrogant, insolent”), from in- (privative prefix) + solēns, present participle of solēre (“to be accustomed, to be wont”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.