insolent

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin insolens (“unaccustomed, unwanted, unusual, immoderate, excessive, arrogant, insolent”), from in- (“priv.”) + solens, present participle of solere (“to be accustomed, to be wont”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsə.lənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsə.lənt/

Adjective

insolent (comparative more insolent, superlative most insolent)

1. Insulting in manner or words.
2. Rude.
   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 24962326:

     “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, […] the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosus, […]!”

3. Cheeky.

Noun

insolent (plural insolents)

1. A person who is insolent.
   • 2010, Louisa Shea, The Cynic Enlightenment: Diogenes in the Salon (page 7)

     Diogenes Laertius reports that Diogenes was apt to take the identification with the dog at face value, as when he lifted his leg and relieved himself on a group of young insolents who teased him with a dog's bone […]

Further reading

• insolent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• insolent in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• insolent at OneLook Dictionary Search

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.sɔ.lɑ̃/

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

Adjective

insolent (feminine singular insolente, masculine plural insolents, feminine plural insolentes)

1. insolent

Further reading

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