Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use insist in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Insist means to hold up a claim emphatically. Example: “The defendant insisted on his innocence.”

Examples of insist by meaning

verbTo hold up a claim emphatically.

  • The defendant insisted on his innocence.
  • I insist that my secretary dresses nicely.
  • Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist.2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70

verbTo demand continually that something happen or be done; to reiterate a demand despite requests to abandon it.

  • The Prime Minister insisted on his Chancellor's resignation.
  • The Prime Minister insisted that his Chancellor resign.
  • I insist that my secretary dress nicely.

More sentences with insist

  • Dara doesn't believe in using dating apps - she insists that destiny will find her other half.From the entry destiny
  • The government insisted that the embarrassing loss of the tax records was a one-off event.From the entry one-off
  • If you insist on posting your baby photos to that abortion newsgroup, get ready for some flamage.From the entry flamage
  • The Eiffel programming language is somewhat purist in insisting that functions have no side effects.From the entry side effect
  • The house was on fire, but Alex still insisted to complete that game before evacuating. Priorities.From the entry priorities
  • Resignedly, I telegraphed back that it was all right with me if he insisted.From the entry resignedly
  • The boss insisted on having first dibs on the best parking space.From the entry first dibs
  • Why for the love of God do you insist on dressing your child like that?From the entry for the love of God
  • My creditors insist on being repaid in full before the end of the month.From the entry in full
  • The engineer insisted on using stays for the scaffolding.From the entry stay
  • Lucy, loved by everyone in her family, refused to detrain and insisted on staying aboard for the entire journey.From the entry detrain
  • They are asking us to nail Jell-O to a tree if they insist on having everything done in three days.From the entry nail Jell-O to a tree
  • They feasted on premium sardines packed in olive oil, as did their hunting dogs, who insisted on joining the meal.From the entry sardine
  • The employees complained that their boss was micromanaging when she insisted that they account for their time in fifteen-minute intervals.From the entry micromanage
  • Our chef insists on preparing this cut au naturel.From the entry au naturel
  • The bride had her heart set on a simple wedding, but her parents insisted on a three-hundred-guest extravaganza.From the entry extravaganza
  • Because of the professor's venerability his opinion was often asked, but his actual attendance in committee meetings was not insisted upon.From the entry venerability
  • He insists on drinking Rhenish from a stein!From the entry Rhenish
  • He declined at first, but when his hosts insisted, he bowed to local custom and played his part in the ritual.From the entry bow to
  • A factory discharged waste into the river, but officials insisted it posed no danger. There was a sentiment of "nothing to see here".From the entry nothing to see here
  • The insurance company insists I get a referral from my regular doctor. I can't just go to the specialist; a GP has got to refer me.From the entry referral
  • But if you really insist she'll retell the unfortunate case of a man named Sean Doyle.2025 February 8, Brenna Cooper, “Medical examiner reveals worst death she has seen is the case of man who was thrown down a manhole into…. From the entry retell
  • "Big is beautiful!" the Soviet propaganda kept insisting, but we refused to believe it.2025 November 26, Vitali Vitaliev, “Small is beautiful”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 68. From the entry gigantomania
  • “Look at Portu,” Michel insisted, “he scores goals and I never start him.2024 May 6, Sid Lowe, “Portu’s brilliant burst seals Girona’s top-four fairytale in the perfect way”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry start
  • Tenzin, a lay Buddhist practitioner, insisted that Dokha’s land was fertile, producing oranges and other fruit.2024 August 8, Muyi Xiao, Agnes Chang, “China’s Great Wall of Villages”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times…. From the entry dokha
  • Although UATX has been described as conservative, Kanelos insists it is “non-political”.2023 October 28, Jemima Kelly, “Back to school”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page…. From the entry UATX
  • Josh Hawley and a Berkeley law professor insisting that men can and do get pregnant.2022 July 14, Mike Gonzalez, “Democrats are in denial about why they are losing Hispanic voters”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News…. From the entry abuela
  • While not all of his matches went well, the streamer insisted aim assist was busted.2022 March 25, Jason Parker, “"I'm not even aiming!": xQc says controller aim assist is broken in Fortnite”, in Sportskeeda. From the entry busted
  • Living in the US, I have always seized every opportunity to insist things are better in Blighty.2022 January 18, Arwa Mahdawi, “Which is more dysfunctional – the US or the UK? I’ve created a Global Embarrassment Index to figure it…. From the entry blighty
  • Adele fans insist that her impending album is ushering in Adele szn.2021 October 11, Shane O’Neill, “October Isn’t Just a Month Anymore. It’s a Whole Szn.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original…. From the entry szn
  • Manospheric misogyny has latched on to this "natural" order and insists on its preservation.2021, Rachel Guy, “Nation of Men: Diagnosing Manospheric Misogyny as Virulent Online Nationalism”, in The Georgetown Journal of Gender and…. From the entry manospheric
  • Politicians insist that lockdown under coronavirus is like the experience of wartime.2020 April 19, Neal Ascherson, “After the crisis, a new world won’t emerge as if by magic. We will have to fight for it”, in The Guardian…. From the entry Luftwaffe
  • While the final festivities were bittersweet, David and Lisa insisted on a party rather than a funeral.2020 January 16, Diana Hubbell, “Bittersweet Berlin goodbye as Clärchens Ballhaus faces uncertain future”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry bittersweet
  • However, YouTube insists that your content must be “ad friendly” if you want to monetize on it.2020, Chandler Wright, Social Media Marketing 2019, page 89. From the entry adpocalypse

Meaning of insist

  1. verb To hold up a claim emphatically.
  2. verb To demand continually that something happen or be done; to reiterate a demand despite requests to abandon it.
  3. verb To stand (on); to rest (upon); to lean (upon).

Full definition of insist

Questions about insist in a sentence

How do you use insist in a sentence?
Insist is used as a verb. For example: “The defendant insisted on his innocence.”
What is a short sentence with insist?
“The defendant insisted on his innocence.”
What does insist mean?
Insist means to hold up a claim emphatically.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: insist (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use insist in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/insist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.