importune means to bother, irritate, trouble. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
Why this word is great
IMPORTUNE — [Verb] To harass or trouble someone with persistent and often troublesome requests or demands. From Middle French importuner, from Medieval Latin importūnor ("to make oneself troublesome"), from Latin importūnus ("unfit, troublesome"), originally meaning "having no harbor" (in- "not" + portus "harbor"). Unlike entreat, which implores earnestly and respectfully, or solicit, which merely asks or seeks formally, to importune is to anchor oneself obdurately in another's attention, heedless of the weather. It is the mosquito's whine at the ear in the dark, the drip of a leak that cannot be stanched, the ceaseless tug at a sleeve by a hand that will not be shaken loose—a shelterless need that turns every refuge into a besieged port.
verb
- To bother, irritate, trouble.“To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me.”
- To harass with persistent requests.“Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […]”
- To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
- To import; to signify.“It importunes death.”
adj
- Grievous, severe, exacting.“And therewithall he fiercely at him flew, / And with importune outrage him assayld [...].”
- Inopportune; unseasonable.
- Troublesome; vexatious; persistent.“And their importune fates all satisfide.”
noun
- Synonym of importuner.“And yet in ſome Courts it is otherwiſe vſed, for in Spaine it is thought very vndecent for a Courtier to craue, ſuppoſing that it is the part of an importune: […]”