as in impudent
displaying or marked by rude boldness
an appallingly insolent reply to a reasonable request
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nuisance
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of insolent
Fatemeh Fannizadeh, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
Bullock’s John Hotham is forced to manage an uprising of rogue military personal and armed insurgents on a semi-fictional January 6, 2025 that makes the real-life January 6, 2021 seem like insolent child’s play.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 14 June 2024
Over the last two decades, Chinese relations with North Korea have deteriorated drastically behind the scenes, as China has tired of North Korea’s insolent behavior and reassessed its own interests on the peninsula.
—Oriana Skylar Mastro, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2017
This chicanery makes Leave the World Behind the most insolent executive-office musing ever committed to film — a full-out assault on the nation’s people.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for insolent
Noun
Her subversive and dominating personality, and sometimes insolent rhetoric in her active X presence set her apart from the likes of other female AI chatbots, such as Siri whose aim is to assist and serve.
—Fatemeh Fannizadeh, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
Bullock’s John Hotham is forced to manage an uprising of rogue military personal and armed insurgents on a semi-fictional January 6, 2025 that makes the real-life January 6, 2021 seem like insolent child’s play.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 14 June 2024
Over the last two decades, Chinese relations with North Korea have deteriorated drastically behind the scenes, as China has tired of North Korea’s insolent behavior and reassessed its own interests on the peninsula.
—Oriana Skylar Mastro, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2017
This chicanery makes Leave the World Behind the most insolent executive-office musing ever committed to film — a full-out assault on the nation’s people.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for insolent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insolent
Adjective
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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
Noun
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An American Werewolf in London' (1981) American dudes backpacking in England get attacked by a werewolf, one of them becomes a beastly nuisance on the full moon, and things get bloody freaky in old London Town.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
14 June 2025
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In the longer term, the City Council would do well to reconsider enacting a city nuisance ordinance that would punish anyone rioting, looting, obstructing the public way, disrupting traffic, physically assaulting a police officer or even publicly calling for such behavior.—
Paul Vallas,
Chicago Tribune,
11 June 2025
Adjective
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Washington eventually adopted more sensible approaches that mobilized the resources of key allies, developed a wiser balance between conventional and nuclear tools, and assumed a less confrontational attitude toward Moscow.—
JENNIFER LIND,
Foreign Affairs,
24 June 2025
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Those who are successful in the job market learn how to embrace tradeoffs to make wise choices.—
Michael B. Horn,
Time,
24 June 2025
Noun
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Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy.—
Sam Sacks,
WSJ,
18 Nov. 2016
-
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
The New Yorker,
5 Feb. 2016
Adjective
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Murder by Death District Music Hall, 71 Wall St., Norwalk The Indiana indie rock band Murder by Death, which features a cello in its lineup and a lot of brazen musical ideas, is calling it quits after a quarter century.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
21 June 2025
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Such perspectives make Wax’s Izzy a multi-layered and often contradictory character: self-assured, yet also self-doubting; brazen, yet guilty; fearless, yet also fearful.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
13 June 2025
Noun
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Think noodle bowls, salads, wraps, shawarma, burgers, and brats.—
Ronny Maye,
Essence,
24 June 2025
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King Herod is played by child actor Parker Williams, which works as a depiction of those in authority as tantrum-throwing brats — something else that resonates in modern times.—
Matthew J. Palm,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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The story itself is stripped to bone and sinew: a sleepy New England beach town that wants tourist dollars more than truth, an invisible killer in plain water, and three men — one scared sheriff, one cocky scientist, one Ahab of a fisherman — set adrift to settle nature’s score.—
Philip Martin,
Arkansas Online,
19 June 2025
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The Pacers—athletic, young, clever, cocky guys with vibes like the youngest brother in a rich exurban family—answered with pesky defense and an approach to basketball that more nearly approximated a sprint-heavy peewee track meet.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
22 May 2025
Adjective
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One bold young woman lay on the ground and put her feet up, wide apart.—
Zadie Smith,
New Yorker,
30 June 2025
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Her makeup included bold brows, lined eyes and a rosy lip.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Insolent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insolent. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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