What does "pertness" mean?

The quality of being pert; cheekiness, impudence.

Pertness

Common synonyms include: impertinence, activity, aggressive self-confidence, airiness, animation, archness.

//ˈpəːtnəs// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
The quality of being pert; cheekiness, impudence. countable, uncountable
"Dinwiddie, who did not love her, having indeed undergone a hundred pertnesses from the imperious little lady, […]"
2
quality of being lively and confident wordnet
3
The quality of being pert; firmness (usually of breasts). countable, uncountable
4
inappropriate playfulness wordnet

"Dinwiddie, who did not love her, having indeed undergone a hundred pertnesses from the imperious little lady, […]"

From pert + -ness.

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