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

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

The county health officer had come to Jene-Wonde to importune its leaders.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 12, 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

"And drink to the success of the beaver trade," importunes Ben.

From Heralds of Empire Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

High Destiny's unhappy slave, Absolute lord of too indolent a king, Oppressed with work whose care importunes him— Bruhl, leave the useless perplexities of grandeur.

From Frederick the Great and His Family by Mrs. Chapman Coleman

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

He had importuned a doctor in Atlanta to play messenger boy for him.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2019

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

Getting the devices out means keeping out the importuning virtual world, with its entertainers and weirdos and cyberbullies, and creating space for psychic and physical rest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025

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

Many of the women I met in Tbilisi’s food world spoke of Jorjadze as though she were standing in their kitchens, importuning them to use newspaper to gauge the freshness of meat.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 22, 2019

Zooey watched her for a full minute or so, then said, not precisely kindly, but without importuning, “Franny. What about it? Shall I try to get Buddy on the phone?”

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger