IMPERTINENT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Impertinent

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/ɪmpˈərtənənt/ Listen

adjective

Impertinent adj.

Not pertinent; not pertaining to the matter in hand; having no bearing on the subject; not to the point; irrelevant; inapplicable. "Things that are impertinent to us." "How impertinent that grief was which served no end!"

Contrary to, or offending against, the rules of propriety or good breeding; guilty of, or prone to, rude, unbecoming, or uncivil words or actions; as, an impertient coxcomb; an impertient remark.

Trifing; inattentive; frivolous.

Synonyms: Rude; officious; intrusive; saucy; unmannerly; meddlesome; disrespectful; impudent; insolent. Impertinent, Officious, Rude. A person is officious who obtrudes his offices or assistance where they are not needed; he is impertinent when he intermeddles in things with which he has no concern. The former shows a lack of tact, the latter a lack of breeding, or, more commonly, a spirit of sheer impudence. A person is rude when he violates the proprieties of social life either from ignorance or wantonness. "An impertinent man will ask questions for the mere gratification of curiosity; a rude man will burst into the room of another, or push against his person, inviolant of all decorum; one who is officious is quite as unfortunate as he is troublesome; when he strives to serve, he has the misfortune to annoy." See Impudence, and Insolent.

noun

Impertinent n. An impertinent person. (R.)

See images of 'Impertinent'

Etymology of 'Impertinent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impertinent" Quotes from Famous Books

... to tell me, George,' said Miss Delacour, 'that you have called that child Hollyhock—that impertinent, ...

— Hollyhock - A Spirit of Mischief • L. T. Meade

... wife had to bear in society. This husband used to give the woman he had won at the point of the Code, public little taps on her shoulder, he would startle her by a resounding kiss, he dishonored her by a conspicuous tenderness, seasoned by those impertinent attentions the secret of which belongs to the French savages who dwell in the depths of the provinces, and whose manners are very little known, despite the efforts of the realists in fiction. It was, it is said, this shocking situation,—one perfectly appreciated ...

— Petty Troubles of Married Life, Second Part • Honore de Balzac

... questions, sir," the confident girl replied; and though the lawyer appealed to the court several times to "silence the insolence" of this witness before she was through; the court protected the witness and rebuked the lawyer for impertinent questions, and the insolence he charged ...

— Summerfield - or, Life on a Farm • Day Kellogg Lee

... statement, 'What you believe about me is not true!' Then again, I thought I might write her a letter and tell her. But of course it would be absurd; she would never acknowledge that she had believed anything, and she would think I was impertinent." ...

— The Moneychangers • Upton Sinclair

... Devil, whom they call Okee, his notions were very heterodox. He said, "It is true God is the giver of all good things, but they flow naturally and promiscuously from him; that they are showered down upon all men without distinction; that God does not trouble himself with the impertinent affairs of men, nor is concerned at what they do, but leaves them to make the most of their free will, and to secure as many as they can of the good things that flow from him; that therefore it was to no purpose either to fear or worship him; but, on the contrary, ...

— The Surprising Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew • Unknown

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