Word Study
Importunate
CIDE DICTIONARY
Importunate, a. [See Importune.].
- Troublesomely urgent; unreasonably solicitous; overpressing in request or demand; urgent; teasing; as, an importunate petitioner, curiosity. Whewell. [1913 Webster]
- Hard to be borne; unendurable. Donne.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
Importunate, adj.
1 making persistent or pressing requests.
2 (of affairs) urgent.
1 making persistent or pressing requests.
2 (of affairs) urgent.
Derivative
importunately adv. importunity n.
Etymology
L importunus inconvenient (as IN-(1), portunus f. portus harbour)
THESAURUS
Importunate
aggravating, annoying, bothering, bothersome, cajoling, choiceless, clamant, clamorous, coaxing, compulsory, controlled, crying, demanding, disturbing, draining, dunning, exacting, exasperating, exigent, exorbitant, extortionate, firm-minded, forward, galling, grasping, harassing, imperative, importune, independent, insistent, instant, irking, irksome, irritating, loud, mandatory, nagging, necessary, necessitous, obligatory, persistent, pertinacious, pesky, pestering, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, plaguesome, plaguey, plaguing, pressing, provoking, pushy, self-asserting, self-assertive, self-controlled, self-expressive, self-possessed, self-restrained, strong-minded, strong-willed, taxing, teasing, tiresome, tormenting, troublesome, troubling, urgent, vexatious, vexing, wearisome, wheedling, without choice, worrisome, worryingROGET THESAURUS
Importunate
Request
N request, requisition, claim, petition, suit, prayer, begging letter, round robin, motion, overture, application, canvass, address, appeal, apostrophe, imprecation, rogation, proposal, proposition, orison, incantation, mendicancy, asking, begging, postulation, solicitation, invitation, entreaty, importunity, supplication, instance, impetration, imploration, obsecration, obtestation, invocation, interpellation, requesting, precatory, suppliant, supplicant, supplicatory, postulant, obsecratory, importunate, clamorous, urgent, cap in hand, on one's knees, on one's bended knees, on one's marrowbones, prithee, do, please, pray, be so good as, be good enough, have the goodness, vouchsafe, will you, I pray thee, if you please, Int, for God's sake!, for heaven's sake!, for goodness' sake!, for mercy's sake!, Dieu vous garde, dirigenos Domine, would you be so kind as to.Painfulness
N painfulness, trouble, care, trial, affliction, infliction, blow, stroke, burden, load, curse, bitter pill, bitter draught, waters of bitterness, annoyance, grievance, nuisance, vexation, mortification, sickener, bore, bother, pother, hot water, sea of troubles, hornet's nest, plague, pest, cancer, ulcer, sting, thorn, canker, scorpion, dagger, scourge, carking care, canker worm of care, mishap, misfortune, desagrement, esclandre, rub, source of irritation, source of annoyance, wound, open sore, sore subject, skeleton in the closet, thorn in the flesh, thorn in one's side, where the shoe pinches, gall and wormwood, sorry sight, heavy news, provocation, affront, head and front of one's offending, infestation, molestation, malignity, causing pain, hurting, hurtful, painful, dolorific, dolorous, unpleasant, unpleasing, displeasing, disagreeable, unpalatable, bitter, distasteful, uninviting, unwelcome, undesirable, undesired, obnoxious, unacceptable, unpopular, thankless, unsatisfactory, untoward, unlucky, uncomfortable, distressing, afflicting, afflictive, joyless, cheerless, comfortless, dismal, disheartening, depressing, depressive, dreary, melancholy, grievous, piteous, woeful, rueful, mournful, deplorable, pitiable, lamentable, sad, affecting, touching, pathetic, irritating, provoking, stinging, annoying, aggravating, mortifying, galling, unaccommodating, invidious, vexatious, troublesome, tiresome, irksome, wearisome, plaguing, plaguy, awkward, importunate, teasing, pestering, bothering, harassing, worrying, tormenting, carking, intolerable, insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unendurable, past bearing, not to be borne, not to be endured, more than flesh and blood can bear, enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot, shocking, terrific, grim, appalling, crushing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, thrilling, tremendous, dire, heart-breaking, heart-rending, heart-wounding, heart-corroding, heart-sickening, harrowing, rending, odious, hateful, execrable, repulsive, repellent, abhorrent, horrid, horrible, horrific, horrifying, offensive, nauseous, nauseating, disgusting, sickening, revolting, nasty, loathsome, loathful, fulsome, vile, hideous, sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic, cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing, envenomed, catheretic, pyrotic, ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, tragical, desolating, withering, burdensome, onerous, oppressive, cumbrous, cumbersome, painfully, with pain, deuced, Int, hinc illae lachrymae!, surgit amari aliquid, the place being too hot to hold one, the iron entering into the soul, he jests at scars that never felt a wound, I must be cruel only to be kind, what deep wounds ever closed without a scar?.For further exploring for "Importunate" in Webster Dictionary Online