insolent definition | Dictionary.com

Synonyms

haughty, high-and-mighty, lofty, lordly, overbearing, overweening, proud, supercilious, superior, assuming, audacious, bold

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insolent - 5 dictionary results

in⋅so⋅lent

[in-suh-luh

nt]

–adjective

1.	boldly rude or disrespectful; contemptuously impertinent; insulting: an insolent reply.

–noun

2.	an insolent person.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L insolent- (s. of insolēns) departing from custom, equiv. to in- in- ³ + sol- (s. of solēre to be accustomed) + -ent- -ent

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : insolent

Spanish:

insolente,

German:

unverschämt,

Japanese:

無礼な

View 30 other languages »

in·so·lent (ĭn'sə-lənt) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Presumptuous and insulting in manner or speech; arrogant.
Audaciously rude or disrespectful; impertinent.

[Middle English, from Latin īnsolēns, īnsolent-, immoderate, arrogant : in-, not; see in-¹ + solēns, present participle of solēre, to be accustomed.]

in'so·lent n., in'so·lent·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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insolent

c.1386, "proud, disdainful, haughty, arrogant," from L. insolentem (nom. insolens) "arrogant, immoderate," lit. "unusual," from in- "not" + solentem, prp. of solere "be accustomed," which possibly is related to sodalis "close companion," and to suescere "become used to." Meaning "contemptuous of rightful authority" is from 1678.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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insolent
adjective
1.	marked by casual disrespect; "a flip answer to serious question"; "the student was kept in for impudent behavior" [syn: impudent]
2.	unrestrained by convention or propriety; "an audacious trick to pull"; "a barefaced hypocrite"; "the most bodacious display of tourism this side of Anaheim"- Los Angeles Times; "bald-faced lies"; "brazen arrogance"; "the modern world with its quick material successes and insolent belief in the boundless possibilities of progress"- Bertrand Russell [syn: audacious]

Insolent

Im*per"ti*nent\, a. [F., fr. L. impertinens, -entis; pref. im- not + pertinens. See Pertinent.]

1. Not pertinent; not pertaining to the matter in hand; having no bearing on the subject; not to the point; irrelevant; inapplicable.

Things that are impertinent to us. --Tillotson.

How impertinent that grief was which served no end! --Jer. Taylor.

2. Contrary to, or offending against, the rules of propriety or good breeding; guilty of, or prone to, rude, unbecoming, or uncivil words or actions; as, an impertient coxcomb; an impertient remark.

3. Trifing; inattentive; frivolous.

Syn: Rude; officious; intrusive; saucy; unmannerly; meddlesome; disrespectful; impudent; insolent.

Usage: Impertinent, Officious, Rude. A person is officious who obtrudes his offices or assistance where they are not needed; he is impertinent when he intermeddles in things with which he has no concern. The former shows a want of tact, the latter a want of breeding, or, more commonly, a spirit of sheer impudence. A person is rude when he violates the proprieties of social life either from ignorance or wantonness. "An impertinent man will ask questions for the mere grafication of curiosity; a rude man will burst into the room of another, or push against his person, inviolant of all decorum; one who is officious is quite as unfortunate as he is troublesome; when he strives to serve, he has the misfortune to annoy." --Crabb. See Impudence, and Insolent.

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