INSOLENCE Synonyms: 125 Similar and Opposite Words

insolence

noun

ˈin(t)-s(ə-)lən(t)s

as in disrespect

disrespectful or argumentative talk given in response to a command or request amazed that parents would tolerate such insolence from their teenaged children

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as in disrespectfulness

rude behavior her frequent displays of insolence have lowered her standing among movie fans

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of insolence Here Are All The Companies Cutting DEI Programs For old school ‘proper football men’ seeing such insolence on the field is simply unacceptable and when he was asked about the incident on talkSPORT ex-Liverpool striker Dean Saunders didn’t hold back. —

Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025 As to the kids’ responses, the more genial Olmo is not above whining, while parental demands usually provoke flat-out insolence from Ana, who breathes cigarette smoke like dragon fire. —

Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2025 Still, the similarities are felt, stylistically and technically, in the collage-like form and the free manipulation of archival images—and, above all, in a shared sense of audacious yet exquisite aestheticism yoked to a strain of refined, resolute insolence. —

Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2024 Set at some indeterminate point in the 18-whatevers, Young Sherlock begins with 19-year-old Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) at London’s Newgate Prison, locked away for pickpocketing and general insolence. —

Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019 See All Example Sentences for insolence

Recent Examples of Synonyms for insolence

Noun

Is Uribe actually good enough to back up this level of disrespect?

— Alejandro Avila OutKick, FOXNews.com, 27 May 2026
Her case, within a nexus of other acts of disrespect, provoked the ire of numerous Indigenous Americans, including one of the better-known of the eighteenth century, Pontiac, an Odawa leader who organized resistance against the British.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 May 2026