impudent
adjUK /ˈɪmpjʊdənt/ · US /ˈɪmpjədn̩t/
Etymology From Middle English impudent, originally meaning immodest, shameless, from Latin impudēns (“shameless”), ultimately from in- + pudere (“to feel shame”).
1
Not showing due respect; bold-faced, impertinent.
- The impudent children would not stop talking in class.
- Sir Iohn, ſir Iohn, I am well acquainted with your maner of wrenching the true cauſe,the falſe way. It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of wordes, that come with ſuch (more then impudent) ſawcines from you, can thruſt me from a leuell conſideration, […]c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 79, column 2:
2 more examples
- “Wickam,” retorted Mrs. Pipchin, coloring, “is a wicked, impudent, bold-faced hussy.”1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Paul’s Further Progress, Growth, and Character”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 75:
- And another asked me if I had come to get a Canadian sweetheart; and a third, one of the impudentest, most conceitedest fellows I ever did set eyes upon, nudged me, so that I spilled my coffee all over my second-best damask-silk apron—the one with bugle fringe, you know, Miss Capel—and says he, 'Is it a case of Barkis is willin'?'1877, Emma Jane Worboise, “The New Evangeline”, in The Grey House at Endlestone, London: James Clarke and Co., […]; Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 480:
2
Obsolete Lacking modesty or shame; indelicate.
- Dian. Good my Lord, Aske him vpon his oath, if hee do’s thinke He had not my virginity. Kin. What ſaift thou to her? Ber. She’s impudent my Lord, And was a common gameſter to the Campe. Dia. He do’s me wrong my Lord: If I were ſo, He might haue bought me at a common price.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 252, column 2:
- So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face, said vnto him, I haue peace offerings with me: this day haue I paid my vowes. Therefore came I forth to meete thee, diligently to seeke thy face, and I haue found thee.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 7:13–15:
1 more example
- Wine and women will make men of vnderstanding to fall away, and he that cleaueth to harlots will become impudent.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus 19:2:
- Derived terms
- impudently, impudentness