To keep pressing someone with forceful requests, often until the persistence becomes troublesome.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- importune someone for help
- importune someone to act
- repeatedly importuned
On the page
The merchant importuned every visitor for an introduction to the governor.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- importune
- Past tense
- importuned
- Past participle
- importuned
- Present participle
- importuning
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- importune
- Present continuous
- am/is/are importuning
- Present perfect
- have/has importuned
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been importuning
- Past
- importuned
- Past continuous
- was/were importuning
- Past perfect
- had importuned
- Past perfect continuous
- had been importuning
- Future
- will importune
- Future continuous
- will be importuning
- Future perfect
- will have importuned
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been importuning
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: importune; importunes; importuned; importuned; importuning Commonness: uncommon (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Cambridge formal transitive repeated forceful requests; MW confirms troublesome persistence. Not simply request. Writing functions: precise action, characterization. Third-person singular: importunes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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