Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To make an earnest request of (someone), especially insistently or repeatedly.
  • intransitive verb To ask for (something) urgently or repeatedly.
  • intransitive verb To annoy; vex.
  • intransitive verb To plead or urge irksomely, often persistently.
  • adjective Importunate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Unseasonable; inopportune; untimely.
  • Importunate.
  • noun An importunate person; one offensively persistent.
  • To press or harass with solicitation; ply or beset with unremitting petitions or demands; crave or require persistently.
  • To crave or require persistently; beg for urgently.
  • To annoy; irritate; molest.
  • [A false use, by confusion with import.] To import; signify; mean.
  • Synonyms Request, Beg, Tease (see ask); appeal to, plead with, beset, urge, plague, worry, press, dun.
  • To make requests or demands urgently and persistently.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Inopportune; unseasonable.
  • adjective obsolete Troublesome; vexatious; persistent; urgent; hence, vexatious on account of untimely urgency or pertinacious solicitation.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To require; to demand.
  • transitive verb To request or solicit, with urgency; to press with frequent, unreasonable, or troublesome application or pertinacity; hence, to tease; to irritate; to worry.
  • transitive verb obsolete To import; to signify.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To bother, trouble, irritate.
  • verb To harass with persistent requests.
  • verb To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
  • adjective obsolete Grievous, severe, exacting.
  • adjective obsolete inopportune; unseasonable
  • adjective obsolete troublesome; vexatious; persistent

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb beg persistently and urgently

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French importuner, from Medieval Latin importunari ("to make oneself troublesome"), from Latin importunus ("unfit, troublesome"), originally "having no harbor"

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word importune.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Some great inquisitors in nature say,

    Royal and generous forms sweetly display

    Much of the heavenly virtue, as proceeding

    From a pure essence and elected breeding:

    Howe'er, truth for him thus nuch doth importune,

    His form and value both deserv'd his fortune;

    For 'tis a question not decided yet,

    Whether his mind or fortune were more great.

    - John Webster, 'A Monumental Column', 1613.

    August 2, 2009

  • After weeks of importuning the star to meet for a five-minute interview, the journalist finally got what she wanted.

    October 29, 2017