importunate

First attested in 1477, in Middle english; from Latin importūnus +‎ -ate (adjective-forming suffix), modelled on Middle French importuné. By surface analysis, importune +‎ -ate.^[1] The noun was substantivized from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔːtjʊnət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔɹt͡ʃənət/

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importunate (comparative more importunate, superlative most importunate)

1. (of a demand) Persistent or pressing, often annoyingly so.
   • 1889–1890, Henry James, The Tragic Muse […], volume (please specify the page), Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], published 7 June 1890, →OCLC:

     Nick was on the point of declaring again that he was a humbug, so vivid was his inner sense of what he thought of his factitious public utterances, which had the cursed property of creating dreadful responsibilities and importunate credulities for him.

   • 1928, W[illiam] B[utler] Yeats, Sophocles’ King Oedipus: A Version of the Modern Stage, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Trembling in every limb I raise my loud im­portunate cry,
     And in a sacred terror wait the Delian god’s reply.

2. (of a person) Given to importunate demands, greedily or thoughtlessly demanding.

• importune

importunate (plural importunates)

1. An importuner.
   • 1751 (written 1641), John Pym, “A Worthy Speech spoken in Parliament, by Mr. Pym, concerning evil Counsellors about his Majesty”, in A Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts, on the Most Interesting and Entertaining Subjects, volume 1, page 306:

     This will put an Answer into the Kings mouth, against all importunates.

First attested in 1574; adapted borrowing of French importuner (“to bother, disturb”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔːtjuːneɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔɹtjuːneɪt/

importunate (third-person singular simple present importunates, present participle importunating, simple past and past participle importunated)

1. (rare) To importune, or to obtain by importunity.
   • 1581 June 23, Thomas Churchyard, letter to Sir Christopher Hatton, in Sir Harris Nicolas (editor), Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton, K.G., Richard Bentley (publisher, 1847), page 173:

     All which notwithstanding, I obtained licence at length to make my supplication to the noble Parliament house; but I could find no messengers till Sir John Seton went, whom I importunated daily to obtain me favor for my return home again.

   • 1847 December 18, N. Roussel, “Spiritual Destitution of Paris.—Appeal to British Christians”, in Evangelical Christendom: Its State and Prospects, Volume II (1848), Partridge and Oakey, page 43:

     Is my work ended? The fear of importunating my friends answers, “Yes.”

   • 1910 July, David Leslie Brown, “The Need of To-day”, in Sunset, Volume 25, Southern Pacific Company, reverse of frontispiece:

     It is the concrete that impresses, that importunates until it influences—in writing as in everything else.

• permutation, premutation

importunate

1. inflection of importunare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

importunate f pl

1. feminine plural of importunato

importunate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of importunar combined with te