impertinent
part of speech
adjective (impertinent, more impertinent, most impertinent)
meaning for a pupil
1) Rude and not showing proper respect, especially to an older person or someone in charge; cheeky. tree →
2) (formal, old) Not relevant to what is being talked about. tree →
sense in the lessons
Grown-ups in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland often call Alice impertinent, and she calls the Hatter's remarks impertinent too: «"You shouldn't make personal remarks," Alice said; "it's very rude."» In old school stories teachers punish impertinent pupils. Today we would say «cheeky» or «rude». Phrases: «an impertinent question», «don't be impertinent».
examples
- «Don't be impertinent!» said the teacher. tree →
- It was impertinent to ask the old lady how old she was. tree →
- The Queen thought Alice was impertinent. tree →
- The impertinent parrot copied everything the captain said. tree →
- Asking how much money someone earns can be an impertinent question. tree →
- The boy gave an impertinent reply and was sent out. tree →
- Behavior that is regarded as agreeable in one is very rude and impertinent in another. tree →
note
Not the opposite of «pertinent» in everyday use: it mostly means «rude», not «irrelevant». Noun: impertinence. Close words: cheeky, rude, insolent.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «impertinent» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.