Geoffrey Wolff
Did you know?
“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?†Oh, bother. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this classic road-trip refrain, then you, friend, have been importuned. Importune is most often encountered in formal speech and writing, however, so you’re more likely to have responded “Stop bothering/pestering/annoying me!†(or just “No!â€) than “Please cease importuning me while I’m driving!†Nevertheless, importune—like bother, pester, and annoy—conveys irritating doggedness in trying to break down resistance to a request for something, whether information (such as a precise ETA) or a favor, as in “repeated e-mails from organizations importuning me for financial help.†Importune also functions in the legal realm, where it is used for behavior that qualifies as pressing or urging another with troublesome persistence.
Examples of importune in a Sentence
Judith Martin, Mercury News, 15 July 2025
Four years later the line was importuned for Robinson Cano.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 20 Apr. 2024
In 1982, she was importuned to join the board of Bronx River Restoration and readily accepted.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024
For one thing, Acts 156 and 157 alleged in the complaint pick out actions Trump took on September 17, 2021, still importuning Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to decertify the election.
—Aziz Huq, Time, 21 Aug. 2023
Said brother was importuned only occasionally, a distant wingman to these sorties.
—Wyatt Mason, Harper's Magazine, 6 Jan. 2023
This may be in part because those whose first overtures were ignored conclude that the widow wants to be left alone, and thus cease to importune her.
—Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2022
Stewart Dickerson, 64, is charged with importuning and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, according to jail records.
—Madeline Mitchell, Cincinnati.com, 28 Feb. 2020
In exchange for his guilty plea, Cuyahoga County prosecutors dropped charges of importuning and possessing criminal tools.
—Cory Shaffer, cleveland, 26 Feb. 2020
Evan Dudley, al, 2 Nov. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Importune.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/importune. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
importune
verbGeneral Statutes of Connecticut
