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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective impertinent contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of impertinent are intrusive, meddlesome, obtrusive, and officious. While all these words mean "given to thrusting oneself into the affairs of others," impertinent implies exceeding the bounds of propriety in showing interest or curiosity or in offering advice.

resented their impertinent interference

When can intrusive be used instead of impertinent?

The meanings of intrusive and impertinent largely overlap; however, intrusive implies a tactless or otherwise objectionable thrusting into others' affairs.

tried to be helpful without being intrusive

When would meddlesome be a good substitute for impertinent?

In some situations, the words meddlesome and impertinent are roughly equivalent. However, meddlesome stresses an annoying and usually prying interference in others' affairs.

a meddlesome landlord

In what contexts can obtrusive take the place of impertinent?

The synonyms obtrusive and impertinent are sometimes interchangeable, but obtrusive stresses improper or offensive conspicuousness of interfering actions.

expressed an obtrusive concern for his safety

When could officious be used to replace impertinent?

The words officious and impertinent are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, officious implies the offering of services or attentions that are unwelcome or annoying.

officious friends made the job harder

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of impertinent But people all around us ask impertinent questions all the time. Harriette Cole, The Mercury News, 14 Mar. 2025 Cocky, opinionated, and flippant, Jimmy might as well be every foreigner’s idea of what those impertinent cowboy Americans are like. Tim Grierson, Vulture, 14 July 2024 In the late Eighties, Ernst Jorgensen, then an executive at a BMG affiliate in Denmark, raised an impertinent question in an international meeting. Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 22 Oct. 2024 There this brilliant but bewildered scientist gets cornered by a plutocrat with impertinent questions. Alan Scherstuhl, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for impertinent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impertinent
Adjective
  • The wise stargazer brings warm clothes, bug spray and snacks — and takes breaks from staring at the sky every 30 minutes or so.
    Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025
  • For investors, is the resolve to assume tariff threats are bluffs and the impact easily handled a wise stance based on lessons learned in the April overshoot sell-off?
    Michael Santoli, CNBC, 12 July 2025
Adjective
  • Most commenters support the original poster, writing that the aunt and uncle are the rude people in this situation.
    Sabrina Weiss, People.com, 10 July 2025
  • Stand up to anyone who bullies you, and call people out who are rude or behaving badly.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
Adjective
  • The rise of e-commerce, particularly Amazon, led to widespread belief that traditional big-box retailers would become irrelevant dinosaurs.
    Robert Daugherty, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025
  • The judge ruled that evolution’s validity was irrelevant.
    Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2025
Adjective
  • Gemma reluctantly agrees to rebuild her impudent robot in a new body, and the sequel ends with an explosive showdown between Amelia and M3GAN, who nearly dies in a noble attempt to save Gemma and her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw).
    Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 29 June 2025
  • One chord appears to speak to the other, sounding almost impudent in their simplicity, equal parts ecstatic and heartbreakingly melancholic.
    Sam Davies, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • One’s insolent, calling him lame and old, and the other affectedly infantile, but both are exhausting in their own way.
    Keith Phipps, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2025
  • The government, in an insolent filing on Sunday evening, rewrote that instruction.
    Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • In a city where so many big plans have gone so badly for 30 years, San Diego residents shouldn’t just be wary when another bold proposal comes long — they should be terrified.
    U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 July 2025
  • And Los Angeles needs bold, systemic reform to meet the moment.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2025
Adjective
  • First, there are highly vocal AI luminaires making individualized brazen predictions.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
  • By the early 1990s, RAM’s Thursday night concerts were wildly popular, marathon affairs charged with increasingly brazen protests against the military junta that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
    Jason Motlagh, Rolling Stone, 13 July 2025
Adjective
  • Jimmy, boyish and cocky as ever, proves a real asset thanks to his clandestine connection with Lex’s fashionista, selfie-snapping girlfriend Eve (Sara Sampaio).
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 July 2025
  • The story itself is stripped to bone and sinew: a sleepy New England beach town that wants tourist dollars more than truth, an invisible killer in plain water, and three men — one scared sheriff, one cocky scientist, one Ahab of a fisherman — set adrift to settle nature’s score.
    Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 19 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Impertinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impertinent. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.

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