different between ask vs importune

English

Alternative forms

• aks, ax (standard until about 1600, now dialectal and no longer standard)

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???sk/
  • (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /?ask/
  • (multicultural London also) IPA^(key): /???ks/
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /?æsk/
  • (NYC, Philadelphia) IPA^(key): /e?sk/
  • (AAVE, Cajun, Nigeria) enPR: ?ks, IPA^(key): /?æks/
• Rhymes: -??sk, -æsk
• Homophones: ax, axe (some dialects)

Etymology 1

From Middle English asken (also esken, aschen, eschen, etc.), from Old English ?scian, from Proto-West Germanic *aisk?n, from Proto-Indo-European *h?eys- (“to wish; request”), German eischen.

Verb

ask (third-person singular simple present asks, present participle asking, simple past and past participle asked)

1. (transitive or ditransitive) To request (information, or an answer to a question).

2. To put forward (a question) to be answered.

3. To interrogate or enquire of (a person).

   • He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

4. To request or petition; usually with for.

   • Ask, and it shall be given you.

5. To request permission to do something.

6. To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.

   • But in any Exigence of State, like that they are now pressed with, it certainly asks a much longer time to conduct any Design, for the Good of the Common-wealth, to its Maturity and Perfection.

7. To invite.

8. To publish in church for marriage; said of both the banns and the persons.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)
9. (figuratively) To take (a person's situation) as an example.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• Pronouncing ask as /æks/ is a common example of metathesis (attested since the Old English period) and still common in some varieties of English, notably African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
• The action expressed by the verb ask can also be expressed by the noun-verb combination pose a question.
• In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb ask had the form askest, and had askedst for its past tense.
• Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form asketh was used.

Hyponyms

• beg, beseech, demand, enquire, entreat, frain, implore, interrogate, petition, prompt, query, question, request, solicit, supplicate

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

ask (plural asks)

1. An act or instance of asking.
2. Something asked or asked for.

   Synonym: request

   • 2008, Doug Fields, Duffy Robbins, Speaking to Teenagers:

     Communication researchers call this the foot-in-the-door syndrome. Essentially it's based on the observation that people who respond positively to a small “ask” are more likely to respond to a bigger “ask” later on.

3. An asking price.

Etymology 2

From Middle English aske, arske, from Old English ?þexe (“lizard, newt”), from Proto-West Germanic *agiþahsij? (“lizard”), a compound of *agiz (“snake, lizard”) + *þahsuz (“badger”). Cognate of German Echse (“lizard”).

Alternative forms

• asker, ascar, askerd, askard

Noun

ask (plural asks)

1. (Britain dialectal and Scotland) An eft; newt.
2. (Britain dialectal) A lizard.
   • 1951, Malcolm Arthur Smith, The British Amphibians & Reptiles (page 258)

     We hear of Adder dens, but detailed accounts of the discovery of one are very rare. Service (1902) records that a peatman, when levelling on an estate by the Solway, found in a hole in the ground, some 8 inches below the surface, 40 adders, 10 toads and a large number of asks (lizards).

Anagrams

• AKs, KAs, KSA, SKA, aks, kas, ska

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ask/

Noun

ask c (singular definite asken, plural indefinite aske)

1. common ash (tree, Fraxinus excelsior)

Declension

References

• “ask” in Den Danske Ordbog

Faroese

Alternative forms

• askur m

Etymology

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ask/

Noun

ask f (genitive singular askar, plural askir)

1. ash tree
2. ash wood

Declension

Icelandic

Noun

ask

1. indefinite accusative singular of askur

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz.

Noun

ask m (definite singular asken, indefinite plural asker, definite plural askene)

1. the European ash (ash tree) Fraxinus excelsior

References

• “ask” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz. Akin to English ash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk/

Noun

ask m (definite singular asken, indefinite plural askar, definite plural askane)

1. the European ash (ash tree) Fraxinus excelsior

References

• “ask” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?k/

Noun

ask m

1. ash tree
2. spear

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: esk
  • Plautdietsch: Asch

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish asker, from Old Norse askr, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?s- (“ash”).

Pronunciation

Noun

ask c

1. the European ash (tree) Fraxinus excelsior
2. a small box

   Synonyms: låda, skrin

Declension

Descendants

• ? Finnish: aski

Anagrams

• sak, ska

English

Etymology

From Middle French importuner, from Medieval Latin importunari (“to make oneself troublesome”), from Latin importunus (“unfit, troublesome”), originally "having no harbor"

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mp???tju?n/, /?m?p??tju?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?mp???tu?n/

Verb

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

1. To bother, irritate, trouble.
2. To harass with persistent requests.
3. To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
4. (obsolete) To import; to signify.

Translations

Adjective

importune (comparative more importune, superlative most importune)

1. (obsolete) Grievous, severe, exacting.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:

     And therewithall he fiercely at him flew, / And with importune outrage him assayld [...].

2. (obsolete) Inopportune; unseasonable.
3. (obsolete) Troublesome; vexatious; persistent.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Envy

     Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual.

Related terms

• importunate

Anagrams

• entropium

French

Verb

importune

1. first-person singular present indicative of importuner
2. third-person singular present indicative of importuner
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of importuner
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of importuner
5. second-person singular imperative of importuner

Italian

Adjective

importune f pl

1. feminine plural of importuno

Anagrams

• impunterò, premunito

Latin

Adjective

import?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of import?nus

References

• importune in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• importune in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• importune in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Portuguese

Verb

importune

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of importunar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of importunar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of importunar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of importunar

Spanish

Verb

importune

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of importunar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of importunar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of importunar.