importune
/ɪmpɔɹˈtuːn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.43 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me."
- "But I will no longer importune my young cousin."
- "Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […]"
- "You were kneel'd to, & importun'd otherwiſe / By all of vs; […]"
- "[W]e have been obliged to hire Troops from ſeveral Princes of the Empire, whoſe Ministers and Reſidents here, have perpetually importuned the Court with unreaſonable Demands, under which our late Miniſters thought fit to be Paſſive."
- "It importunes death."
Etymology
From Middle French importuner and its etymon Medieval Latin importūnor (“to make oneself troublesome”), from Latin importūnus (“unfit, troublesome”), originally "having no harbor".
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: importuner, importūnor, importūnus, importune,inportune, importun
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪmpɔɹˈtuːn/
- British English: /ɪmpɔːˈtjuːn/
Usage
Inflected Forms
importunes (present, singular)
importuning (participle, present)
importuned (participle, past)
importuned (past)
more importune (comparative)
most importune (superlative)
importunes (plural)