Word.ws English Dictionary

importune

/ɪmpɔːˈtjuːn/US/ɪmpɔɹˈtuːn/

importune verb: to bother, irritate, trouble.

Verb

importune (third-person singular simple present importunes, present participle importuning, simple past and past participle importuned)

  1. (transitive) To bother, irritate, trouble.
    • To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter XVII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
    • But I will no longer importune my young cousin.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 155
  2. (transitive) To harass with persistent requests.
    • Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […]c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • You were kneel'd to, & importun'd otherwiſe / By all of vs; […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
  3. (transitive) To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To import; to signify.
    • It importunes death.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16

Adjective

importune (comparative more importune, superlative most importune)

  1. (obsolete) Grievous, severe, exacting.
    • And therewithall he fiercely at him flew, / And with importune outrage him assayld [...].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  2. (obsolete) Inopportune; unseasonable.
  3. (obsolete) Troublesome; vexatious; persistent.
    • And their importune fates all satisfide.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 44
    • Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Envy”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

Noun

importune (plural importunes)

  1. (obsolete) Synonym of importuner.
    • And yet in ſome Courts it is otherwiſe vſed, for in Spaine it is thought very vndecent for a Courtier to craue, ſuppoſing that it is the part of an importune: […]1589, [George Puttenham], “Of Decencie in Behauiour Which Also Belongs to the Consideration of the Poet or Maker”, in The Arte of English Poesie. […], London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, pages...
    • Which ſhew that importunate People will affirm any Thing, to ſerve Turns, though never fo ſenſeleſs; hoping ſome, that underſtand little, or are very willing, will give credit upon their Authority: And, if Juſtice muſt ſtay till ſuch Importunes are ſatisfied, there’s a ne plus ultra of all Law.a. 1735, Roger North, “The Times Clearing Up, and How”, in Examen: or, An Enquiry into the Credit and Veracity of a Pretended Complete History; […], London: […] Fletcher Gyles […], published 1740...
    Synonyms:
    importuner

importune meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

importune in Hindi

to importune, to persecute
पीछे पड़ना pīche paṛnā

importune in Tamil

கொல், தெவ்வு, பஞ்சரி, நெருக்கு, கோழியாகக்கூவு

importune in Urdu

بےوقت, ناموزوں, خطرے میں ڈلوانا

importune in Bengali

অনবরত পিড়াপিড়ি করা, নাছোড়বান্দা হয়ে চাওয়া
More languagesFewer languages
importune in Malayalam
ഞെരുക്കിച്ചോദിക്കുക, അസഹ്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, യാചിക്കുക, അലട്ടുക

Synonyms of importune

Forms of importune

Verb
third-person singular presentimportunes
present participleimportuning
past participleimportuned
pastimportuned
Adjective
comparativemore importune
superlativemost importune
Noun
pluralimportunes

Origin of importune

From Middle French importuner and its etymon Medieval Latin importūnor (“to make oneself troublesome”), from Latin importūnus (“unfit, troublesome”), originally "having no harbor".

From Middle English importune, inportune, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French importun and its etymon Classical Latin importūnus.

Words formed from importune

Questions about importune

What does importune mean?
Importune means to bother, irritate, trouble.
What is importune in Hindi?
Importune in Hindi is पीछे पड़ना (pīche paṛnā). See Importune meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is importune?
Importune can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce importune?
Importune is pronounced /ɪmpɔːˈtjuːn/ (UK).
What is the past tense of importune?
The past tense of importune is importuned.

Words near importune in the dictionary

  1. importunateness
  2. importunates
  3. importunating
  4. importunator
  5. importunators
  6. importune
  7. importuned
  8. importunely
  9. importunement
  10. importunements
  11. importuner

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: importune (page history and authors); पीछे पड़ना (Hindi) (page history and authors); importune (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); importune (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Importune (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); importune (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-importune.wav.

Cite this entry: “importune.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/importune. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.