different between brazen vs impertinent

English

Alternative forms

• brasen

Etymology

From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass +? -en (compare golden).

The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550s (perhaps evoking the sense “face like brass, unmoving and not showing shame”), and the adjective sense “impudent” from the 1570s. Compare bold as brass.

Pronunciation

• enPR: br?z?n, IPA^(key): /?b?e?z?n/
• Rhymes: -e?z?n
• Hyphenation: braz?en

Adjective

brazen (comparative more brazen, superlative most brazen)

1. (archaic) Pertaining to, made of, or resembling brass (in color or strength).
   • 1786, Francis Grose, Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, London: Printed for S. Hooper […], OCLC 745209064; republished as Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, volume II, new [2nd] edition with material additions and improvements, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […]; & G. Kearsley, […], 1801, OCLC 435979550, page 262:

     Brazen or rather copper swords seem to have been next introduced; these in process of time, workmen learned to harden by the addition of some other metal or mineral, which rendered them almost equal in temper to iron.
2. Sounding harsh and loud, like brass cymbals or brass instruments.
   • 1697, Virgil; John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 839376905; republished as The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden. In Three Volumes, volume III, 5th edition, London: Printed by Jacob Tonson […], 1721, OCLC 181805247, book IX, page 822, lines 667–670:

     And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouze the sleepy War. / The Souldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heav'n, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds.
3. (archaic) Extremely strong; impenetrable; resolute.
4. Shamelessly shocking and offensive; audacious; impudent; barefaced; immodest, unblushing. [from 1570s.]

Derived terms

• brazen age
• brazen bull
• brazenface
• brazen-faced
• brazen sea
• brazenly
• brazenness

Translations

See also

• effrontery

Verb

brazen (third-person singular simple present brazens, present participle brazening, simple past and past participle brazened)

1. (intransitive) To turn a brass color.
2. (transitive) Generally followed by out or through: to carry through in a brazen manner; to act boldly despite embarrassment, risk, etc. [from 1550s.]

Derived terms

• brazen it out

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Old French impertinent.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m.?p??.t?.n?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m.?p?.t?.n?nt/

Adjective

impertinent (comparative more impertinent, superlative most impertinent)

1. insolent, ill-mannered.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Curious speculations, and the contemplation of things that are impertinent to us, and do not concern us, nor serve to promote our happiness, are but a more specious and ingenious sort of idleness

   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     How impertinent that grief was which served no end!

2. irrelevant.

   Antonyms: pertinent, relevant

Usage notes

• Although definition 2 was the original meaning (derived from the French), the meaning gradually changed to definition 1. More recently, general usage has come to once again incorporate definition 2, though older speakers may consider definition 2 incorrect. The construction "not pertinent" is one possible alternative.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cheeky

Translations

Noun

impertinent (plural impertinents)

1. An impertinent individual.
   • 1809-1812, Maria Edgeworth, "Manoeuvring", in Tales of Fashionable Life

     comfortably recessed from curious impertinents

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

impertinent (comparative impertinenter, superlative impertinentst)

1. insolent, ill-mannered

Inflection

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.p??.ti.n??/

Adjective

impertinent (feminine singular impertinente, masculine plural impertinents, feminine plural impertinentes)

1. insolent, ill-mannered

Further reading

• “impertinent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

impertinent (comparative impertinenter, superlative am impertinentesten)

1. insolent, ill-mannered

Declension

Related terms

• Impertinenz

Further reading

• “impertinent” in Duden online

Romanian

Etymology

From French impertinent, from Latin impertinens.

Adjective

impertinent m or n (feminine singular impertinent?, masculine plural impertinen?i, feminine and neuter plural impertinente)

1. impertinent

Declension