Literary notes about Impertinent (AI summary)
In literature, “impertinent” is employed to characterize behavior that flouts social conventions or exhibits unwelcome boldness. Authors use the term to suggest not only insolence or presumption, as when a character behaves wildly audaciously or arrogantly [1], [2], but also to highlight moments where curiosity borders on intrusion, such as a probing remark made at just the wrong moment [3], [4]. In some works it carries a tone of humor or irony, capturing the essence of mischievous or cheeky actions that unsettle established norms [5], [6]. This varied usage underscores the word's flexibility, serving as a marker of both disdain and playful defiance within a rich tapestry of narrative voices [7], [8].
- When the old rascal said this, he looked so extremely impertinent, that, as Tom Smart afterwards declared, he could have sat upon him without remorse.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - King Don’t be impertinent and don’t look at me like that.
— from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Alice Gerstenberg - I hardly knew how to frame my question, at once pertinent and impertinent.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - I dared not ask where she lived, lest he might think my curiosity impertinent.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - We would very often spend the whole night rambling about the city, inventing and carrying into execution the most impertinent, practical jokes.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - I give you carte blanche then; you can even be impertinent if you like; I shall let it pass and horribly spoil you.
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James - I was fearful that my visit would be deemed an impertinent intrusion.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie - Should the same impertinent freedom be expressed by his looks, which dictated this cruel letter, I shall not know how to endure either him or myself.
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney
