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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
  • Considering Micah Parsons, Trey Hendrickson and T.J. Watt are all in line for new deals soon, getting something done with Hutchinson sooner rather than later would be wise.
    Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 30 May 2025
  • Which is wiser: Spending money on more firefighting resources after wildfires break out and absorbing the extraordinary cost of damages, or investing in technologies and training to prevent wildfires from happening in the first place?
    Abhishek Singh, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
Adjective
  • Hintz, meanwhile, got a rude welcome back early in Game 4 when Evan Bouchard slashed him right in the same area that Darnell Nurse injured him in Game 2.
    Pierre LeBrun, New York Times, 27 May 2025
  • And in the case of fully autonomous EVs, it might be considered rude to expect human passengers to get out and cable a robotaxi to a supercharger for a quick top up on the way to the airport.
    Paul Ridden May 23, New Atlas, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • Executives Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health YES: The decision was made to add parking meters at Balboa Park; starting six months earlier is irrelevant.
    Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2025
  • If investors are now satisfied, the underlying legal structure is irrelevant.
    Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 30 May 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • In short, Moscow sees Montenegro as both strategically valuable and an impudent upstart that has thumbed its nose at the Russian bear while genuflecting before NATO and Washington.
    Edward P. Joseph, Foreign Affairs, 22 Dec. 2016
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
  • This is maximalism to a T: a big stripe, a ruffle detail, a bold contrast.
    Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 25 May 2025
  • While some men gravitate toward bold logos or avant-garde streetwear, Powers advises balance.
    Cassell Ferere, Forbes.com, 25 May 2025
Adjective
  • The trio were three of 10 inmates to make the brazen May 16 escape from their Orleans Parish jail.
    Louis Casiano , Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 27 May 2025
  • Somehow, all of this led Akasha to adopt his most brazen business model yet.
    Andy Greenberg, Wired News, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • Te actor stars as Daniel Kaffee, the cocky lieutenant junior grade naval attorney who reluctantly defends two Marines (Wolfgang Bodison and James Marshall) accused of murdering their fellow officer at Guantanamo Bay.
    Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 24 May 2025
  • The cocky Ukrainian is constantly boasting of his conquests with women, which intrigues Enzo, who has a girlfriend of his own.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Impertinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impertinent. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.

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