importune

In the Book of Samuel, Israelites importune its eponymous judge to “Give us a king to rule over us, like all the other nations.”

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024

“The needs are too great. And if we pass a strong package with strong bipartisan support, it will importune the House somehow or other to act, despite the morass they are in.”

From Washington Times ● Oct. 16, 2023

They aren’t here to importune men for anything.

From Slate ● Jan. 7, 2019

And too many of the works are so large, and importune the visitor so aggressively, that one feels hectored by hectares of art.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2015

And at the same time I fear to importune it too much, because I do not know what might happen then.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

In the novel, the Mongoose importunes Ashok to remarry; it is actually Ms. Uma, a former lover whom Ashok reconnects with after his separation from Pinky, who appears to suggest that Balram be replaced.

From Slate ● Jan. 22, 2021

The High Line, incidentally, provides an ideal platform for public art that importunes without annoying—unlike most of its kind today, which tends to fail as civic symbolism or as art, if not both.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 7, 2014

When Aaron ignores him, Teddy importunes Lea in a grocery store and invites himself to her husband’s 40th-birthday bash.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2013

The curiosity of Lucius being greatly exercised about the sorceress and her magic, he importunes the girl to procure from her mistress a magic salve which will transform him at will into an owl.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 2 by Mabie, Hamilton Wright

Now he importunes him To tell it o're: go too, well said, well said    Iago.

From Othello by Shakespeare, William

The son must endure the gall of being mocked and seeing his mother importuned by greedy suitors who feast nightly on the family’s stores.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Instead of writing “The verbiage from the campaigners importuned the dispossession of their statesmen,” write “The protestors demanded the resignations of their congressional representatives.”

From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021

She importuned Fred to notice the blood on the cuspid and to imagine the agony surrounding its expulsion from her mouth.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2021

That, they believe, will maximise the number of congressmen being importuned by victims to repeal the offending law, says John Weekes, a former Canadian ambassador to the WTO who now practises trade law.

From Economist ● Jun. 18, 2015

“Rob, this is Helen at Base Camp,” Wilton importuned, sounding as if she was on the brink of tears.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

This brings to mind the medieval episode of England’s King Henry II idly importuning some knights to rid him of Archbishop Thomas Becket, only to be surprised when they actually did it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026

It had to be around here someplace, but Michael R. Jackson could not readily locate his Pulitzer Prize certificate when an importuning visitor asked for a look.

From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2022

This week, a former song fragment that’s nearly a year old—belatedly expanded into a full-blown single, after months of relentless fan importuning, especially on TikTok—is sitting atop Billboard’s Hot 100.

From Slate ● May 1, 2021

But Graham’s importuning of Trump seemed to have failed, and the senator was none too happy to be confronted with evidence of it.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 22, 2019

His uncle, who was among the first to be hungry, came importuning to his door, and indeed the man and his wife and his seven children had nothing to eat.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck