importune

See also: importuné

English

WOTD – 25 November 2011

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɔːˈtjuːn/, /ɪmˈpɔːtjuːn/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɔɹˈtuːn/

Verb

importune (third-person singular simple present importunes, present participle importuning, simple past and past participle importuned)

1. To bother, irritate, trouble.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Pride and Prejudice, volume I, London: […] T[homas] Egerton […], OCLC 38659585, page 155:

     But I will no longer importune my young cousin.

2. To harass with persistent requests.
   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], page 7, column 1:

     You were kneel'd to, & importun'd otherwiſe / By all of vs; […]

   • 1711 December 8, [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, OCLC 1204920679, page 57:

     [W]e have been obliged to hire Troops from ſeveral Princes of the Empire, whoſe Ministers and Reſidents here, have perpetually importuned the Court with unreaſonable Demands, under which our late Miniſters thought fit to be Paſſive.

3. To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
4. (obsolete) To import; to signify.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto I, stanza 16:

     It importunes death.

Translations

to harass with persistent requests

• Bulgarian: досаждам (bg) (dosaždam), натрапвам се (natrapvam se)
• Finnish: udella (fi) (for information), anella (fi) (for goods or services)
• Galician: importunar (gl), abafar (gl)
• German: bedrängen (de), belästigen (de)
• Maori: patete, unene

• Portuguese: importunar (pt), incomodar (pt)
• Russian: домога́ться (ru) (domogátʹsja), надоеда́ть (ru) (nadojedátʹ), приставать (ru) (pristavatʹ)
• Spanish: importunar (es)
• Swedish: besvära (sv)
• Turkish: sıkboğaz etmek, üstelemek (tr), dadanmak (tr)

to make improper proposals

• Bulgarian: предлагам се (predlagam se)
• Finnish: ahdistella (fi)

• Spanish: prostituirse (es)

Adjective

importune (comparative more importune, superlative most importune)

1. (obsolete) Grievous, severe, exacting.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:

     And therewithall he fiercely at him flew, / And with importune outrage him assayld [...].

2. (obsolete) Inopportune; unseasonable.
3. (obsolete) Troublesome; vexatious; persistent.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto III, stanza 44:

     And their importune fates all satisfide.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Envy

     Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual.

Related terms

• importunate

Anagrams

• entropium

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

importune

1. first-person singular present indicative of importuner
2. third-person singular present indicative of importuner
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of importuner
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of importuner
5. second-person singular imperative of importuner

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Italian

Adjective

importune f pl

1. feminine plural of importuno

Anagrams

• impunterò, premunito

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Latin

Adjective

importūne

1. vocative masculine singular of importūnus

References

• importune in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• importune in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• importune in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

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Portuguese

Verb

importune

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of importunar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of importunar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of importunar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of importunar

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Spanish

Verb

importune

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of importunar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of importunar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of importunar.