1
as in wise
displaying or marked by rude boldness
the impertinent child had a smart answer for everything
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rude
showing a lack of manners or consideration for others
impertinent salesmen who telephone people during the dinner hour
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in irrelevant
not having anything to do with the matter at hand
your résumé needlessly lists skills that are impertinent to the job for which you are applying
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of impertinent
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
This should be said with a beatific bridal smile — the sincerity of which Miss Manners hopes your guests will be questioning for the rest of their rude and impertinent lives.
—Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 4 Oct. 2024
Starting out as a stand-up in her native Detroit and then getting her big break on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in 1969, Tomlin, now 84, invented iconic characters — from Ernestine, an impertinent telephone operator, to Edith Ann, a precocious 5-year-old — both absurd and sweet but undeniably human.
—Jason Sheeler, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
See All Example Sentences for impertinent
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
This should be said with a beatific bridal smile — the sincerity of which Miss Manners hopes your guests will be questioning for the rest of their rude and impertinent lives.
—Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 4 Oct. 2024
Starting out as a stand-up in her native Detroit and then getting her big break on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in 1969, Tomlin, now 84, invented iconic characters — from Ernestine, an impertinent telephone operator, to Edith Ann, a precocious 5-year-old — both absurd and sweet but undeniably human.
—Jason Sheeler, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
See All Example Sentences for impertinent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impertinent
Adjective
-
Deferring college acceptance—postponing enrollment typically for one year—can be a thoughtful strategy when life circumstances, personal goals or practical considerations suggest that waiting might be the wiser path.—
Dr. Aviva Legatt,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
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Guidance and tariffs Dover made a few wise adjustments to its full-year outlook.—
Jeff Marks,
CNBC,
24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Be Courtesy To Other Shoppers To a Southerner, manners are top of mind, so pushing, shoving, and being rude over buying things doesn’t jive with a genteel way of life.—
Jennifer Prince,
Southern Living,
19 Apr. 2025
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The same employee, who Shea said was also rude to her, answered and told her the company was closed.—
PJ Green,
Kansas City Star,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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For the purposes of this discussion, the cause of sea level rise is irrelevant.—
Rob Young,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Apr. 2025
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Tony Gilroy’s masterful series is so good that the sci-fi Star Wars of it all sometimes seems irrelevant compared to the nuanced takes on resistance and fascism.—
James Grebey,
Vulture,
23 Apr. 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
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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
-
America, meet the Orb: a bold new attempt to verify you’re not a bot — just by looking you in the eye.—
Jennifer Jolly,
USA Today,
2 May 2025
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Like with wine, food pairings play a key role; black teas like Ceylon and English Breakfast, with their bold tannins and fuller body, balance the sugar in the pastries, scones, and confections that come with afternoon tea territory.—
Oset Babür-Winter,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
1 May 2025
Adjective
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That’s about how much the owner of a Los Angeles jewelry store estimates was the value of merchandise stolen by burglars in a brazen heist last weekend.—
Jade Walker,
CNN Money,
16 Apr. 2025
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From the November 2023 issue: Sophie Gilbert on what Madonna knows The brazen sexuality of the video was the whole point.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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But on the occasions when the ball did find him around the box, the cocky assurance that saw him nutmeg Branthwaite en route to scoring a 29-minute hat-trick in last season’s corresponding fixture was nowhere to be seen.—
Liam Twomey,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2025
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The Rock, cocky, handsome, and eager to flaunt his wealth and status, facing Stone Cold, the vicious everyman who can’t stand figures of authority.—
Daniel Dockery,
Vulture,
21 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impertinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impertinent. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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