importune
See also: importuné
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle French importuner, from Medieval Latin importunari (“to make oneself troublesome”), from Latin importunus (“unfit, troublesome”), originally "having no harbor"
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
importune (third-person singular simple present importunes, present participle importuning, simple past and past participle importuned)
- To bother, trouble, irritate.
- 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, printed at London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821:, II.17:
- To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me.
- 1813, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Chapter 14
- But I will no longer importune my young cousin.
- To harass with persistent requests.
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 1
- You were kneel'd to, and importun'd otherwise / By all of us; […].
- Jonathan Swift
- Their ministers and residents here have perpetually importuned the court with unreasonable demands.
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 1
- To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
- (obsolete) To import; to signify.
- Spenser
- It importunes death.
- Spenser
Translations[edit]
to harass with persistent requests
|
to make improper proposals
|
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Adjective[edit]
importune (comparative more importune, superlative most importune)
- (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 [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:
- (obsolete) Inopportune; unseasonable.
- (obsolete) Troublesome; vexatious; persistent.
- Spenser
- And their importune fates all satisfied.
- Francis Bacon
- Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual.
- Spenser
Related terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Verb[edit]
importune
- first-person singular present indicative of importuner
- third-person singular present indicative of importuner
- first-person singular present subjunctive of importuner
- third-person singular present subjunctive of importuner
- second-person singular imperative of importuner
Italian[edit]
Adjective[edit]
importune f pl
Anagrams[edit]
Latin[edit]
Adjective[edit]
importūne
References[edit]
- 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
Portuguese[edit]
Verb[edit]
importune
- first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of importunar
- third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of importunar
- third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of importunar
- third-person singular (você) negative imperative of importunar
Spanish[edit]
Verb[edit]
importune
- First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of importunar.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of importunar.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of importunar.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English adjectives
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Spanish forms of verbs ending in -ar