different between vexatious vs importunate

English

Etymology

a 1650 vexation +? -ous

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v?k?se???s/
• Rhymes: -e???s

Adjective

vexatious (comparative more vexatious, superlative most vexatious)

1. Causing vexation or annoyance; teasing; troublesome.
2. (archaic) Full of trouble or disquiet

   Synonyms: harassed, distressed, annoyed, vexed

   • 1644, Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises - To My Son Kenelm Digby (preface)

     He leads a vexatious life.

3. (law, of an action) Commenced for the purpose of giving trouble, without due cause.

   a vexatious lawsuit

4. (law, of a party or entity) In the habit of starting vexatious litigation and therefore liable to have restraints placed on one's ability to access the courts.

   a vexatious litigant

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:annoying

Derived terms

• vexatiously
• vexatiousness

Related terms

• vex
• vexation

Translations

References

• vexatious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• vexatious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology 1

From Latin importune +? -ate

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?p??tj?n?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?p??t???n?t/

Adjective

importunate (comparative more importunate, superlative most importunate)

1. (of a demand) Persistent or pressing, often annoyingly so.
   • 1890, Henry James, The Tragic Muse:

     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.

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

Related terms

• importune

Translations

Etymology 2

From French importuner (“to bother, disturb”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?p??tju?ne?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m?p??tju?ne?t/

Verb

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.

Translations

Anagrams

• permutation, premutation

Italian

Verb

importunate

1. second-person plural present indicative of importunare
2. second-person plural imperative of importunare
3. feminine plural of importunato