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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 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 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 See All Example Sentences for impertinent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impertinent
Adjective
  • Kizzi’s fate, drama-wise, is not in butting heads with people in her team, but in boatmance.
    Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Also, color-wise, this phone doesn’t give you many possibilities.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • It’s still considered rude, and people on both sides tend to feel bad about it, albeit in different ways.
    Anna Holmes, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Is it meant to suggest something about focaccia’s typically dimpled surface, in which case … kinda rude?
    Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Each was played a stream of speech that contained relevant comments and other irrelevant information, all spoken in a flat tone.
    Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Its cable properties are increasingly irrelevant in the market, and networks like Logo, MTV and TV Land have been starved of new content for years.
    Brian Steinberg, Variety, 20 Oct. 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
  • Fortunately, Snow White’s newfound enlightenment does not deny her the possibility of romance, although princes are now strictly off-limits; her love interest here is a fetchingly impudent bandit, Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), who is leading a scrappy rebellion against the Evil Queen.
    Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Beautiful, not perfect; Alex can be rude, insolent, and subject to wild emotional swings and failures of decorum and logic.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The movie’s startling originality is in its spirit, its insolent ironies.
    Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 July 2025
Adjective
  • This has been accompanied by an increase in complaints about disrespectful behavior and increased anti-foreigner sentiment, which some right-wing politicians have capitalized on.
    Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Trump calling Chicago a ‘war zone’ is disrespectful to the people who live here and fight every day for better.
    Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • One large piece can anchor a space and make a bold statement.
    Elizabeth Fogarty, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Oct. 2025
  • That is, needless to say, a bold claim about a phenomenon that is famously hard to predict.
    Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The footage, obtained by French broadcaster BFMTV, purportedly shows what has been called one of the most brazen art thefts in recent memory.
    Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Urgent search for thieves behind brazen jewelry heist at the LouvreOfficials said the gang struck shortly after opening on Sunday and took just minutes.
    ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Impertinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impertinent. Accessed 25 Oct. 2025.

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