IMPUDENCE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties

Synonyms:

cheekiness; crust; freshness; gall; impertinence; impudence; insolence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("impudence" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; rudeness (a manner that is rude and insulting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impudence"):

chutzpa; chutzpah; hutzpah ((Yiddish) unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity)

Derivation:

impudent (improperly forward or bold)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An impudent statement

Synonyms:

cheek; impertinence; impudence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("impudence" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; disrespect (an expression of lack of respect)

Derivation:

impudent (improperly forward or bold)

Credits

Context examples:

That the manner in which she treated the dreadful crime committed by her brother and my sister (with whom lay the greater seduction I pretended not to say), but the manner in which she spoke of the crime itself, giving it every reproach but the right; considering its ill consequences only as they were to be braved or overborne by a defiance of decency and impudence in wrong; and last of all, and above all, recommending to us a compliance, a compromise, an acquiescence in the continuance of the sin, on the chance of a marriage which, thinking as I now thought of her brother, should rather be prevented than sought; all this together most grievously convinced me that I had never understood her before, and that, as far as related to mind, it had been the creature of my own imagination, not Miss Crawford, that I had been too apt to dwell on for many months past.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Accordingly, they have a subaltern court paid to them by persons of the best rank; and sometimes by the force of dexterity and impudence, arrive, through several gradations, to be successors to their lord.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"That is for your impudence in answering mama awhile since," said he, "and for your sneaking way of getting behind curtains, and for the look you had in your eyes two minutes since, you rat!"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Nay, when I read a letter of his, I cannot help giving him the preference even over Wickham, much as I value the impudence and hypocrisy of my son-in-law.