Importune vs Beseech - What's the difference?
importune | beseech | Related terms |
To bother, trouble, irritate.
* , II.17:
To harass with persistent requests.
* 1610 , , act 2 scene 1
* Jonathan Swift
To approach to offer one's services as a prostitute, or otherwise make improper proposals.
(obsolete) To import; to signify.
* Spenser
(obsolete) Grievous, severe, exacting.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.vi:
(obsolete) inopportune; unseasonable
(obsolete) troublesome; vexatious; persistent
* Spenser
* Francis Bacon
To beg or implore.
* 1748 , David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral , London, Oxford University Press, 1973, § 25:
* 1888 , Rudyard Kipling, ‘Watches of the Night’, Plain Tales from the Hills , Folio 2005, p. 61:
* 1919 ,
(archaic) A request.
* 1839 , Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, George Darley, The works of Beaumont and Fletcher: Volume 1 :
As verbs the difference between importune and beseech
is that importune is to bother, trouble, irritate while beseech is to beg or implore.As an adjective importune
is grievous, severe, exacting.As a noun beseech is
a request.importune
English
Verb
(importun)- To deliberate, be it but in slight matters, doth importune me.
- You were kneel'd to, and importun'd otherwise / By all of us;.
- Their ministers and residents here have perpetually importuned the court with unreasonable demands.
- It importunes death.
Adjective
(en adjective)- And therewithall he fiercely at him flew, / And with importune outrage him assayld [...].
- And their importune fates all satisfied.
- Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual.
beseech
English
Alternative forms
*Verb
- after what manner, I beseech you, must the mind proceed in this operation?
- She besought him, for his Soul's sake to speak the truth.
- Panting a little in his haste, he told her how miserable he was; he besought her to have mercy on him; he promised, if she would forgive him, to do everything she wanted.
Noun
(beseeches)- Good madam, hear the suit that Edith urges, With such submiss beseeches ; [...]
