1
2
3

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 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 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 See All Example Sentences for impertinent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impertinent
Adjective
  • In hindsight that decision may not have been the wisest.
    Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 5 July 2025
  • Demonstrating a talent for working in fluent french peppered with a british accent, the actor delivers one of his most indelible acting turns as the sly, wry, and wise business mogul-turned- butler who finds new purpose in life working on the other side of the fence.
    Pete Hammond, Deadline, 3 July 2025
Adjective
  • Nearly one in four Gen Z professionals viewed the thumbs-up as rude or hostile.
    Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes.com, 3 July 2025
  • Mowing during a neighbor’s party is considered rude because the noise disrupts conversation and spoils the relaxed mood.
    Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 2 July 2025
Adjective
  • Geography becomes irrelevant when AI handles the grunt work.
    Steven Wolfe Pereira, Forbes.com, 3 July 2025
  • Talking about Linux in this context is pretty irrelevant anyways, since the Xbox consoles run a variant of Windows.
    Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 1 July 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
  • 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
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
  • This might include a favorite texture, bold glasses, a scent that anchors you, or a piece of jewelry that reminds you of your strength.
    Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
  • And the challenge became not drawing a big, bold line between the unceasing pound of drums, the undulating flapping of flags, the rising tide of song, and the team’s breathless second-half charge.
    Megan Feringa, New York Times, 12 July 2025
Adjective
  • First, there are highly vocal AI luminaires making individualized brazen predictions.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • The brazen corruption that pervaded St. Paul’s police force in 1935 didn’t spring up overnight.
    Nick Woltman, Twin Cities, 28 June 2025
Adjective
  • Jimmy, boyish and cocky as ever, proves a real asset thanks to his clandestine connection with Lex’s fashionista, selfie-snapping girlfriend Eve (Sara Sampaio).
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 July 2025
  • 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

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Impertinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impertinent. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on impertinent

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!