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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Impertinent \Im*per"ti*nent\, adjective [F., fr. L. impertinens, -entis; pref. im- not + pertinens. See {Pertinent}.]
1. Not pertinent; not pertaining to the matter in hand; having no bearing on the subject; not to the point; irrelevant; inapplicable.
Things that are impertinent to us. --Tillotson.
How impertinent that grief was which served no end! --Jer. Taylor.
2. Contrary to, or offending against, the rules of propriety or good breeding; guilty of, or prone to, rude, unbecoming, or uncivil words or actions; as, an impertient coxcomb; an impertient remark.
3. Trifing; inattentive; frivolous.
Syn: Rude; officious; intrusive; saucy; unmannerly; meddlesome; disrespectful; impudent; insolent.
Usage: {Impertinent}, {Officious}, {Rude}. A person is officious who obtrudes his offices or assistance where they are not needed; he is impertinent when he intermeddles in things with which he has no concern. The former shows a lack of tact, the latter a lack of breeding, or, more commonly, a spirit of sheer impudence. A person is rude when he violates the proprieties of social life either from ignorance or wantonness. ''An impertinent man will ask questions for the mere gratification of curiosity; a rude man will burst into the room of another, or push against his person, inviolant of all decorum; one who is officious is quite as unfortunate as he is troublesome; when he strives to serve, he has the misfortune to annoy.'' --Crabb. See {Impudence}, and {Insolent}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Impertinent \Im*per"ti*nent\, noun An impertinent person. [R.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
impertinent
adjective
1: characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality; "a certain irreverent gaiety and ease of manner" [syn: {irreverent}, {pert}, {saucy}]
2: not pertinent to the matter under consideration; "an issue extraneous to the debate"; "the price was immaterial"; "mentioned several impertinent facts before finally coming to the point" [syn: {extraneous}, {immaterial}, {orthogonal}]
3: improperly forward or bold; "don't be fresh with me"; "impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup"; "an impudent boy given to insulting strangers" [syn: {fresh}, {impudent}, {overbold}, {smart}, {saucy}, {sassy}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
87 Moby Thesaurus words for "impertinent": adrift, arrogant, audacious, beside the mark, beside the point, beside the question, biggety, bluff, bold, brash, brassy, brazen, bumptious, busy, busybody, challenging, cheeky, chutzpadik, cocky, contemptuous, crusty, daring, defiant, defying, derisive, discourteous, disdainful, disregardful, disrespectful, extraneous, extrinsic, facy, flip, flippant, foreign, forward, fresh, gally, gratuitous, greatly daring, immaterial, impolite, impudent, inadmissible, inapplicable, inapposite, inappropriate, incidental, inconsequent, inquisitive, insolent, interfering, intrusive, irrelative, irrelevant, malapert, meddlesome, meddling, nervy, nihil ad rem, nonessential, nosy, not at issue, obtrusive, off the subject, offensive, officious, out-of-the-way, parenthetical, pert, presumptuous, prying, pushing, pushy, regardless of consequences, rude, sassy, saucy, self-appointed, smart, smart-alecky, smart-ass, snoopy, uncalled-for, uncivil, unessential, wise-ass
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