impertinence
nounUK /ɪmˈpɜː.tɪ.nəns/ · US /ɪmˈpɝ.tɪ.nəns/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French impertinence, from impertinent (“impertinent”); by surface analysis, im- + pertinent.
1
Lack of pertinence; irrelevance.
2
An instance of this; a moment of being impertinent.
- "Enough, sir! " he thundered with barely restrained fury. "Enough, I say! Once and for all I must endeavour to rid myself of you and your impertinence.1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter VI, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(1867)/VI):
3
The fact or character of being out of place; inappropriateness.
4
Insolence; impudence.
- "Because," interrupted the actress, "I see things exactly as they are. I calculate my effects, but they do not deceive myself; you, on the contrary, live in a world of illusions, where every thing is called by such an exceedingly fine name, that it seems a downright impertinence to ascertain what it really is."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 198–199:
- The musical has always had a lightness of touch, an impertinence that resembles gay humor.1984 February 4, Michael Bronski, “Cats: Straight and Boring”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 17: