importune

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“
He told me to say to you that this is the last time he will importune, the last time that he will implore.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. transitive verb To beset with insistent or repeated requests; entreat pressingly.
  2. transitive verb Archaic To ask for urgently or repeatedly.
  3. transitive verb To annoy; vex.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • She had expected him to importune, to scold, but in the end to trust. —  From the Valley of the Missing
  • As the Lady of Rome, who was importune, and vehemently instant vpon her husband, to know what was debated of that day at the Councell Table. —  A Treatise of Witchcraft
  • He told me to say to you that this is the last time he will importune, the last time that he will implore. —  The Mississippi Bubble
  • He had begged them piteously to lead him, during the first days of his blindness, but seeming to realize that they were unable to render assistance, he ceased to importune, and heroically met his fate. —  History of the Donner Party, a Tragedy of the Sierra
  • They sat down on somebody's knees, embraced him around the neck, and, as usual, began to importune: —  Yama: the pit
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

musical-comedy ·  revile ·  connue ·  broch ·  squoire ·  primitif ·  ash-coloured ·  violente ·  hardiment ·  mester ·  attribuer ·  glorieux
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French importuner, from Old French importun, inopportune, from Latin importūnus : in-, not; see in-1 + portus, port, refuge; see per-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English importune, from Old French (also F.) importun = Spanish Portuguese Italian importuno, from Latin importunus, inportunus, unfit, unsuitable, troublesome, rude, unmannerly, orig. without access, from in- privative + partus, access, a harbor: see part. Cf. the opposite opportune.
  2. from French importuner = Spanish Portuguese importunar = Italian importunare, from Middle Latin importunari, be troublesome, from Latin importunus, troublesome: see importune, adjective
 

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/ɪmporˈtjun/
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