Library / English Dictionary

INSIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Postulate positively and assertively

Example:

The letter asserts a free society

Synonyms:

assert; insist

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "insist" is one way to...):

posit; postulate (take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They insist that there was a traffic accident

Sense 2

Meaning:

Beg persistently and urgently

Example:

I importune you to help them

Synonyms:

importune; insist

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "insist" is one way to...):

beg; implore; pray (call upon in supplication; entreat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "insist"):

besiege (harass, as with questions or requests)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They insist to move

Derivation:

insistence (the act of insisting on something)

insisting (continual and persistent demands)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge

Example:

I must insist!

Synonyms:

insist; take a firm stand

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "insist"):

hold firm; stand fast; stand firm; stand pat (refuse to abandon one's opinion or belief)

assert; asseverate; maintain (state categorically)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something

Derivation:

insistence (continual and persistent demands)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“What have you done with her? Why have you pursued her? I insist upon an answer!” said I.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He insists upon seeing you, sir.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I don't care whether it was true or not," she insisted.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There is only one point on which I must insist.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"She was beautiful—" he began, "But she didn't give milk," Madge interrupted. "But she was beautiful, now, wasn't she?" he insisted.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Well, I don’t insist upon it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But do not insist upon my being very agreeable, for my heart, you know, will be some forty miles off.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Nobody doubts her right to have precedence of mamma, but it would be more becoming in her not to be always insisting on it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He did not insist, which I rather feared he would have done; he allowed me to return quietly to my usual seat.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)