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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
  • There are many layers that get peeled back in this wise film.
    Randy Myers, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
  • That won’t be the case every week, but Diggs looks up to speed — healthy and chemistry-wise — which puts him in the WR3/4 conversation and gives that Boutte the boot.
    Jake Ciely, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Your neighbors may even call you rude.
    Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Crowd in New York has been bordered on rude; embarrassing!
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • There is this constant projection from bad-faith actors, who find the truth irrelevant to their desires to rhetorically position the work that artists are doing—and even reality itself.
    Helen Molesworth, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
  • My teaching skills were basically irrelevant.
    Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 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
  • The interview escalated after host Branson Quirke made remarks that Riddle appeared to find disrespectful.
    Andrew Ravens‎, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
  • It should also be noted that his remarks were in no way disrespectful to Kirk himself, to whose family the host had expressed condolences after his death last week.
    Jason Bailey, Mercury News, 20 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • With it, Pierpaolo explores the space between fabric and body, where the air between them becomes a third dimension and a vital component of their construction to create bold and unexpected shapes.
    Alex Wynne, Footwear News, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Cowboy meatloaf is just like your regular weeknight dish, but with bold, smokey swagger.
    Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Advertisement Last week’s brazen Israeli airstrikes against Hamas negotiators in Doha turbocharged those anxieties.
    Firas Maksad, Time, 25 Sep. 2025
  • Read All About It A Missouri woman was sentenced to more than four years in prison in a brazen and blundering attempt to steal Graceland from the family of Elvis Presley.
    Christian Orozco, NBC news, 24 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Impertinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impertinent. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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