Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold.
  • adjective Not pertinent: synonym: irrelevant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not pertinent; not pertaining to the matter in hand; not to the point; irrelevant; inapposite; out of place.
  • Negligent of or inattentive to the matter in hand; careless; frivolous.
  • Contrary to the rules of propriety or good breeding; uncivil: speaking or acting presumptuously or offensively; pragmatical; meddling: as, impertinent behavior; an impertinent boy.
  • Synonyms Impertinent, Officious, saucy, impudent, insolent, rude, unmannerly, pert, bold, Impertinent means forward, intrusive, generally from curiosity, but sometimes with undesired advice, etc.; officious means forward to offer and undertake service where it is neither needed nor desired. A busybody may be either impertinent or officious, or both. See impudence.
  • noun One who interferes in what does not concern him; one who is rude, uncivil, or offensive in behavior; a meddler; an intruder.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not pertinent; not pertaining to the matter in hand; having no bearing on the subject; not to the point; irrelevant; inapplicable.
  • adjective Contrary to, or offending against, the rules of propriety or good breeding; guilty of, or prone to, rude, unbecoming, or uncivil words or actions
  • adjective Trifing; inattentive; frivolous.
  • noun rare An impertinent person.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective insolent, ill-mannered
  • adjective irrelevant (opposite of pertinent)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality
  • adjective improperly forward or bold
  • adjective not pertinent to the matter under consideration

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, irrelevant, from Old French, from Late Latin impertinēns, impertinent- : Latin in-, not; see in– + Latin pertinēns, pertinent; see pertinent.]

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Examples

  • Belfield, with great indignation, demanded what he meant by the term impertinent fellow; and Sir Robert yet more insolently repeated it:

    Cecilia 2008

  • Belfield, with great indignation, demanded what he meant by the term impertinent fellow; and Sir Robert yet more insolently repeated it:

    Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 1 Fanny Burney 1796

  • Elinor gently remonstrated with him on the meanness and absurdity of such conduct; but he silenced what he termed her impertinent interference in matters which did not concern her.

    Mark Hurdlestone Or, The Two Brothers Susanna Moodie 1844

  • The word impertinent has appeared in 12 New York Times articles in the past year, including on May 4 in "Hermès Is Selling Its Stake in Gaultier's Fashion House," by Suzy Menkes and David Jolly:

    NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2011

  • On the latest, Mr.A. J. Duffield's, it would be in every sense of the word impertinent in me to offer an opinion here.

    Don Quixote 2002

  • True; and how much more impertinent is it to give your advice when you can know nothing about the truth, and admit you could not inquire into it.

    Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 1860

  • Charles Collins is to be married at Christmas. all the friends who once so highly esteemd & loved him, have now but one opinion of his character — that he is equally vain impertinent cold-hearted & selfish.

    Letter 169 1796

  • How immensely impertinent is the prejudice that forbids so natural a use of money! why should the better half of a man's actions be always under the dominion of some prescriptive slavery; 'Tis hideous to think of.

    Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth 1796

  • But how malicious and impertinent is this creature to talk to me in such

    Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World 1778

  • On the latest, Mr.A. J. Duffield's, it would be in every sense of the word impertinent in me to offer an opinion here.

    Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1581

Comments

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  • inclined to take liberties

    June 16, 2009

  • The new employee's impertinent question about receiving a pay raise, made the manager have second thoughts about hiring her.

    June 8, 2015

  • adjective: being disrespectful; improperly forward or bold

    Dexter, distraught over losing his pet dachshund, Madeline, found the police officer’s questions impertinent—after all, he thought, did she have to pry into such details as to what Madeline’s favorite snack was?

    October 11, 2016