insolence

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Rudeness

Nouns

1. (overbearing behavior) insolence, arrogance; hauteur, haughtiness, airs; overbearance; presumption, assertiveness, bravado, pomposity, snobbery; defiance.

2. (impertinent behavior) impertinence; sauciness, flippancy, petulance, bluster; familiarity; cheek, swagger[ing], bounce; impudence, assurance, audacity; hardihood, front, face, shamelessness, effrontery, pride, vanity.Informal, brass, sauce. Slang, gall, nerve, sass, crust, lip. See discourtesy.

3. smart aleck. Informal, smart or wise guy. Slang, smarty pants, weisenheimer, minx, cool hand, smart-mouth, wiseass, wiseacre.

Verbs

1. bluster, vapor, swagger, swell, give oneself airs, snap one's fingers; swear (see affirmation); roister; arrogate; assume, presume; make bold, make free; take a liberty, patronize. Slang, have a nerve, stiff.

2. outface, outlook, outstare, outbrazen, outbrave; stare out of countenance; brazen out; lay down the law; talk or act big; talk back, get on a high horse; toss the head, carry with a high hand; overreach. See threat.

Adjectives

1. insolent, haughty, arrogant, imperious, high-handed, high and mighty, stuck-up, cocky, uppity; contumelious, supercilious, snobbish, overbearing, overweening, lordly, assertive, bold, high-flown; nervy. Slang, high-hat, fresh, bodacious.

2. flippant, pert, cavalier, saucy, sassy, forward, impertinent, malapert; precocious, assuming, would-be, bumptious; bluff; brazen, shameless, aweless, unblushing, unabashed; boldfaced, barefaced, brazen-faced; familiar, impudent, audacious, presumptuous, free and easy; roistering, blustering, hectoring, swaggering, vaporing. Informal, flip.

Adverbs — insolently, etc.; with a high hand; where angels fear to tread.

Quotations — Victory is by nature insolent and haughty (Cicero), Rudeness is better than any argument; it totally eclipses intellect (Arthur Schopenhauer), Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person (Mark Twain), He has to learn that petulance is not sarcasm, and that insolence is not invective (Benjamin Disraeli).

Antonyms, see servility.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. effrontery, impertinence, presumption, audacity; see rudeness .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

disrespect, boldness, impertinence, impudence, arrogance, nerve, gall, cheek, effrontery, back talk, *lip, *guff, haughtiness.

ANT.: respect, deference, courtesy

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The quality of being arrogant: arrogance, haughtiness, hauteur, loftiness, lordliness, over-bearingness, presumption, pride, pridefulness, proudness, superciliousness, superiority. See ATTITUDE. 2. The state or quality of being impudent or arrogantly self-confident: assumption, audaciousness, audacity, boldness, brashness, brazenness, cheek, cheekiness, chutzpah, discourtesy, disrespect, effrontery, face, familiarity, forwardness, gall1, impertinence, impudence, impudency, incivility, nerve, nerviness, overconfidence, pertness, presumptuousness, pushiness, rudeness, sassiness, sauciness. Informal: brass, crust, sauce, uppishness, uppityness. See ATTITUDE, COURTESY.