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''importunity'' ▫ᴱᴺ

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''importunity'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250716205758-00-⌔

importunity - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

🖼️ ➺

Noun

importunity (countable and uncountable, plural importunities)

  • (uncountable) Constant and insistent demanding or proposing, especially if regarded as annoying or upsetting; also, the character of such behaviour; (countable) an instance of this.
    • ✤ Coordinate terms: begging, hounding, pestering, wheedling
    • ✤ And he[Jesus] ſayde vnto thẽ [them]: which of you ſhall have a frende and ſhall goo to hym att mydnyght⸝ and ſaye vnto hym: frende lende me foure loves for a frende of myne is come out off the waye to me⸝ and I have nothynge to ſett before hĩ [him] ⸝ And he within ſhall andſwer and ſaye: Trouble me nott⸝ nowe is the doore ſhett⸝ and my ſervaunttꝭ [servaunttis, i.e., servants] are with me in the chamber⸝ I cannot ryſe and geve thẽ to the [them to thee]. I ſaye vnto you: though he woll not aryſe and geve hym⸝ becauſe he is his frende: Yet becauſe of hys importunitie he woll ryſe and geve him as many as he nedeth.1
    • ✤ Of a ſuretie, it is a ioyfull thynge to reioyce in the chyldhode of chyldren, but it is a ryght cruel thing to ſuffre the importunities of their mothers.2
    • ✤ Then vvay vvhat loſſe your honor may ſuſtaine/If vvith too credent eare you liſt his ſongs/Or looſe your hart, or your chaſt treaſure open/To his vnmaſtred importunity.3
    • ✤ [W]ith much importunitie and promiſe of revvard (it being a matter of danger) I got them to ſet me aſhore.4
    • ✤ The truth of my Third Accuſation is confeſt, but the guilt, not acknovvledged; ſince that vvhich excites men to endleſs bavvlings, and altercations; Schiſms, Hereſies and Rebellions, by the vehemencies of Diſpute, is it ſeems vvith our Author no more noxious and criminal, then the Sun that ſtirrs men up to their vvork in the morning, by the importunity of it’s beams.5
    • ✤ For if through Importunity, a poor VVidovv-vvoman may prevail vvith an unjuſt Judge; and ſo conſequently vvith an unmerciful and hard-hearted Tyrant, hovv much more ſhall the poor, afflicted, diſtreſſed, and tempted People of God, prevail vvith, and obtain Mercy at the Hands of a loving, juſt, and merciful God?6
    • ✤ Mean vvhile, lord —— continued to act in the character of a fiend, tormenting me vvith his nauſeous importunities: he prevailed upon the duke of L—— to employ his influence in perſuading me to live vvith him; […]7
    • ✤ [B]eing ſurrounded vvith importunity, and no longer able to ſatisfy every requeſt that vvas made him, instead of money he gave promiſes. They vvere all he had to beſtovv, and he had not reſolution enough to give any man pain by a denial.8
    • ✤ [K]naves in office, partial in the vvork/Of diſtribution; lib’ral of their aid/To clam’rous importunity in rags,/But oft-times deaf to ſuppliants vvho vvould bluſh/To vvear a tatter’d garb hovvever coarſe,/VVhom famine cannot reconcile to filth; […]9
    • ✤ […] Linton clung to his cousin, and implored her to accompany him, with a frantic importunity that admitted no denial.10
    • ✤ But when she turned her thoughts to Morningside Park she perceived the tangled skein of life was now to be further complicated by his romantic importunity.11
  • (obsolete)
    • (uncountable) The fact of being at an inappropriate or unsuitable time; unseasonableness.
      • ✤ Speake not, where there is no audyence: and poure not forth wyſzdome out of tyme, at an importunyte.12
      • ✤ It is one of the moſt vexatious Mortifications perhaps, of a Sober, and a Studious Mans Life, to have his Thoughts Diſorder’d, and the very Chain of his Reaſon Diſcompos’d, by the Importunity of a Tedious, and an Impertinent Viſit.13
    • (uncountable) Persistence in behaviour; determination, perseverance, stubbornness.
      • ✤ I beſech the[thee] with what colours coude more workmanly haue be paynteth and ſet out eyther venymous entycementes and wanton pleaſures of the poyſoned fleſſhe⸝ prouokyng ⁊ temptynge the ſoule to fylthynes of ſynne⸝ or elſe the importunytye of the ſame cryenge and ſtryuyng agaynſt the ſpiryte⸝ or the wretched ende that foloweth whan ſhe [a harlot] dothe ouercõme the ſpiryte.14
      • ✤ [S]uch vague memories hang about the mind like cobwebs, with tickling importunity —best to sweep them away at a dash: […]15
    • (uncountable) The quality of being annoying or troublesome; difficulty, trouble; (countable) an instance of this.
      • ✤ [V]ery often the Importunity and Violence of the Cough vvas to be appeaſed by Elixir Aſthmaticum, Diacodium, &c.16

Etymology

From Late Middle English importunitie, importunyte (“insistence, persistence; grievance; hardship, trouble; inappropriateness (?)”),17 from Anglo-Norman importunité, and Middle French importunité (“persistent demand; hardship, trouble; something difficult or troublesome; inappropriateness”) (modern French importunité), and their etymon Latin importūnitās (“insolence, rudeness; oppressiveness, relentlessness; unfitness, unsuitableness”), from importūnus (“annoying; rude; inconvenient; unsuitable”) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns denoting states of being).1819

Importūnus is derived from im- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + portus (“harbour, port; haven, refuge”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ﹡pértus (“crossing”), from ﹡per- (“to carry forth, fare; to dare, try; to go through;”)) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives).

By surface analysis, importune +‎ -ity (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives, referring to the state of conforming to what the adjectives describe).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌɪmpəˈtjuːnɪti/, /-pɔː-/, /-t͡ʃuː-/
  • (General American) IPA: /ˌɪmpəɹˈt(j)unɪti/, /-poɹ-/, [-ɾi]
  • Audio (General American);/ˌɪmpoɹˈtunɪti/: 🔊
  • Rhymes: -uːnɪti
  • Hyphenation: im‧por‧tun‧i‧ty

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Luke xj:[5–8], folio xciiij, recto: ↩

  2. 1531 March 20 (date written; Gregorian calendar), [Antonio de Guevara], “The Answere of M. Themperour, whan Faustine His Wife Demaunded the Key of His Study”, in John Bourcher knyghte Lord Barners [i.e., John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners], transl., The Golden Boke of Marcus Aurelius Emperour and Eloquent Oratour, London: […] Thomæ Bertheleti […], published 1535, →OCLC, folio 32, verso: ↩

  3. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature C3, verso: ↩

  4. 1615, George Sandys, “The First Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, page 19: ↩

  5. 1665, Joseph Glanvill, “Scire/i tuum nihil est: Or, The Authors Defence of the Vanity of Dogmatizing; against the Exceptions of the Learned Tho. Albius [i.e., Thomas White] in His Late Sciri”, in Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 74: ↩

  6. 1685, John Bunyan, A Discourse upon the Pharisee and the Publican. […], 3rd edition, London: […] John Marshall, […], published 1704, →OCLC, page 2: ↩

  7. 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “The Memoirs of a Lady of Quality”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 156: ↩

  8. 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “A Migration. The Fortunate Circumstances of Our Lives are Generally Found at Last to be of Our Own Procuring.”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 27: ↩

  9. 1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 158: ↩

  10. 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume II, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 259: ↩

  11. 1909 October, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Sapphire Ring”, in Ann Veronica: A Modern Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published 1909, →OCLC, § 6, page 307: ↩

  12. 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus[Sirach] xxxij:[6], folio xlix, verso, column 2: ↩

  13. 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Abstemius, &c.] Fab[le] CCCXXVIII. An Impertinent and a Philosopher[Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 285: ↩

  14. 1533 November 25 (Gregorian calendar), Erasmus of Roterdame, “Of Thre Partes of Man⸝ the Spiryte⸝ the Soule⸝ and the Flesshe”, in [William Tyndale], transl., A Booke Called in Latyn Enchiridion Militis Christiani⸝ and in Englysshe The Manuell of the Christen Knyght⸝ […], London: […] Wynkyn de Worde ⸝ for Johan Byddell⸝ otherwyse Salisbury⸝ […], →OCLC, signatures [E.vij.], verso – [E.viij.], recto: ↩

  15. 1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “A Man’s Ransom”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book I, page 157: ↩

  16. 1750, John Huxham, “Of the Peripneumony and Pleuro-peripneumony”, in An Essay on Fevers, and Their Various Kinds, as Depending on Different Constitutions of the Blood: […], London: […] S. Austen, […], →OCLC, page 213: ↩

  17. “importūnitẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. ↩

  18. “importunity, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025. ↩

  19. “importunity, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present; from Michael Agnes, editor, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN. ↩

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