insolent

insolent
    adj 1: marked by casual disrespect; "a flip answer to serious
           question"; "the student was kept in for impudent
           behavior" [syn: {impudent}, {insolent}, {snotty-nosed},
           {flip}]
    2: unrestrained by convention or propriety; "an audacious trick
       to pull"; "a barefaced hypocrite"; "the most bodacious
       display of tourism this side of Anaheim"- Los Angeles Times;
       "bald-faced lies"; "brazen arrogance"; "the modern world with
       its quick material successes and insolent belief in the
       boundless possibilities of progress"- Bertrand Russell [syn:
       {audacious}, {barefaced}, {bodacious}, {bald-faced},
       {brassy}, {brazen}, {brazen-faced}, {insolent}]
    

Insolent \In"so*lent\, a. [F. insolent, L. insolens, -entis,
   pref. in- not + solens accustomed, p. pr. of solere to be
   accustomed.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Deviating from that which is customary; novel; strange;
      unusual. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            If one chance to derive any word from the Latin
            which is insolent to their ears . . . they forthwith
            make a jest at it.                    --Pettie.
      [1913 Webster]

            If any should accuse me of being new or insolent.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Haughty and contemptuous or brutal in behavior or
      language; overbearing; domineering; grossly rude or
      disrespectful; saucy; as, an insolent master; an insolent
      servant. "A paltry, insolent fellow." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Insolent is he that despiseth in his judgment all
            other folks as in regard of his value, of his
            cunning, of his speaking, and of his bearing.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            Can you not see? or will ye not observe . . .
            How insolent of late he is become,
            How proud, how peremptory?            --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Proceeding from or characterized by insolence; insulting;
      as, insolent words or behavior.
      [1913 Webster]

            Their insolent triumph excited . . . indignation.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   Syn: Overbearing; insulting; abusive; offensive; saucy;
        impudent; audacious; pert; impertinent; rude;
        reproachful; opprobrious.

   Usage: {Insolent}, {Insulting}. Insolent, in its primitive
          sense, simply denoted unusual; and to act insolently
          was to act in violation of the established rules of
          social intercourse. He who did this was insolent; and
          thus the word became one of the most offensive in our
          language, indicating gross disregard for the feelings
          of others. Insulting denotes a personal attack, either
          in words or actions, indicative either of scorn or
          triumph. Compare {Impertinent}, {Affront},
          {Impudence}.
          [1913 Webster]
    

114 Moby Thesaurus words for "insolent":
      abusive, arrogant, assuming, atrocious, audacious, aweless,
      backhand, backhanded, bold, brash, brassy, brazen, brazenfaced,
      bumptious, callous, calumnious, cavalier, challenging, cheeky,
      cocky, cold, contemptuous, contumelious, cool, crude, daring,
      defiant, defying, degrading, derisive, dictatorial, discourteous,
      disdainful, disparaging, disregardful, disrespectful, familiar,
      forward, fresh, greatly daring, hard, hardened, haughty,
      high-and-mighty, hubristic, humiliating, impenitent, imperative,
      impertinent, impolite, improvident, imprudent, impudent, inaffable,
      incautious, indiscreet, injudicious, insubordinate, insulting,
      irreverent, left-handed, lofty, magisterial, obdurate, obtrusive,
      offensive, outrageous, overbearing, overbold, overcareless,
      overconfident, overpresumptuous, oversure, overweening, peremptory,
      pert, presuming, presumptuous, procacious, pushy, rash,
      regardless of consequences, ridiculing, rude, saucy, scurrile,
      scurrilous, self-appointed, self-elect, supercilious, superior,
      temerarious, unabject, unaccommodating, unchary, uncivil,
      uncomplaisant, uncontrite, uncourteous, uncourtly, ungallant,
      ungracious, unmelted, unpolite, unrepentant, unrepenting,
      unsoftened, unspeakable, untouched, unwary, uppish, uppity, wise,
      would-be