ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsIimpertinent
ISEE/SSAThard
impertinent
Meaning: rude and disrespectful, especially toward someone of higher authority
impertinent in a sentence
How impertinent is used in real sentences:
The intern's impertinent remark about the CEO's tie caused an awkward silence.
Her impertinent question about the judge's age drew gasps from the rest of the courtroom.
“One intransigent historian refused every proposed qualification, while his assistant made an impertinent remark about elders preferring legends to measurements; the insult nearly ended the discussion.”
— from the passage The Moraine Calendar
“Elias, usually laconic when worried, answered with nods and an "Aye." When the pilot praised the altered waterfront as progress, Elias became impertinent: he interrupted the harbormaster's radio orders and asked whether "progress" was the official word for erasing a town.”
— from the passage The Altered Shore
Synonyms for impertinent
Other words for impertinent — insolent, disrespectful and impudent — carry the same meaning.
Antonyms of impertinent
Words that mean the opposite of impertinent:
- respectful
- polite
- courteous
Where it comes from
From Latin impertinens 'not pertaining, irrelevant'
Memory hook
IM-PERTINENT — NOT pertinent to manners, so it lands as rude.
Practice impertinent in the app