importune

See also: importuné

English

WOTD – 25 November 2011

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Verb

1. To bother, trouble, irritate.
   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
   • 1813, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Chapter 14

     But I will no longer importune my young cousin.

2. 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; […].

   • (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Their ministers and residents here have perpetually importuned the court with unreasonable demands.

3. To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
4. (obsolete) To import; to signify.
   • (Can we date this quote by Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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.
   • (Can we date this quote by Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     And their importune fates all satisfied.

   • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

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

Related terms

• importunate

Anagrams

• entropium

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French

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

(deprecated template usage) 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. Template:pt-verb-form-of

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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.