INSIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does insist mean? 

• INSIST (verb)
  The verb INSIST has 3 senses:

1. be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge

2. beg persistently and urgently

3. postulate positively and assertively

  Familiarity information: INSIST used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INSIST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they insist    ... he / she / it insists   
Past simple: insisted   
Past participle: insisted   
-ing form: insisting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

insist; take a firm stand

Context example:

I must insist!

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Beg persistently and urgently

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

importune; insist

Context example:

I importune you to help them

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:

Postulate positively and assertively

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

assert; insist

Context example:

The letter asserts a free society

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

 Context examples 

She stopped and wanted to insist upon my taking my shoes; but I would not.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I am aware of that; and that's the reason why I insist upon it, that there shan't be a word about it in his Memorial.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A moment later, when he had recovered himself, he said, "I always insisted that wolf was a dog. Look at 'm!"

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Jo helps me with the sewing, and insists on doing all sorts of hard jobs.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He insisted upon having two rifles slung upon his back, so that both Professors were armed when he had made his transit.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She insisted, and said, “Please, please,” whereupon I turned the oar over to her and obeyed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

(for example, insisting that people are trying to harm him/her or steal from him/her)?

(NPI - Have Beliefs That You Know are Not True, NCI Thesaurus)

But the king insisted on it, and said: “You shall sit by me,” until he did it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I insisted that she had to look further in that neighborhood.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

They insisted, therefore, that I should engage with a solemn promise that if the vessel should be freed I would instantly direct my course southwards.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)