insist Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge
take a firm stand.
- I must insist!
verb beg persistently and urgently
importune.
- I importune you to help them
verb assert to be true
assert.
- The letter asserts a free society

F. insister, L. insistere to set foot upon, follow, persist; pref. in- in + sistere to stand, cause to stand. See Stand.

imperfect & past participle Insisted; present participle & verbal noun Insisting

To stand or rest; to find support; -- with in, on, or upon. R. Ray.
To take a stand and refuse to give way; to hold to something firmly or determinedly; to be persistent, urgent, or pressing; to persist in demanding; -- followed by on, upon, or that; as, he insisted on these conditions; he insisted on going at once; he insists that he must have money.
Insisting on the old prerogative. Shak.

Without further insisting on the different tempers of Juvenal and Horace. Dryden.
Syn. -- Insist, Persist. -- Insist implies some alleged right, as authority or claim. Persist may be from obstinacy alone, and either with or against rights. We insist as against others; we persist in what exclusively relates to ourselves; as, he persisted in that course; he insisted on his friend's adopting it. C. J. Smith.