insist
/ɪnˈsɪst/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.03 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To hold up a claim emphatically.
Example Sentences
- "The defendant insisted on his innocence."
- "I insist that my secretary dresses nicely."
- "But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,[…]. We began to tell her about Mohair and the cotillon, and of our point of observation from the Florentine galleried porch, and she insisted she would join us there."
- "Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster."
- "The Prime Minister insisted on his Chancellor's resignation."
- "The Prime Minister insisted that his Chancellor resign."
Etymology
Partly from Middle French insister, from Latin īnsistere; and partly from a back-formation from insistence. Compare typologically from the same PIE root Bulgarian настоявам (nastojavam), Russian наста́ивать (nastáivatʹ).