Insolency

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of showing a profound lack of respect is marked by an audacious disregard for social conventions and authority
2. This trait involves behaving with an impressive level of arrogance that clearly demonstrates dismissive attitudes toward others
3. The state of acting in a boldly disrespectful or impudent manner toward others

Etymology: Insolency comes from the Latin "insolentia," a noun built from "insolens," which combined the prefix "in-" (not) with "solere," meaning "to be accustomed." An "insolens" was therefore someone who was not accustomed to something, and in Latin the sense drifted toward being unusually proud or arrogant, as if one had stepped outside ordinary custom. The Latin word passed into English as a borrowing, and the English noun keeps that sense of overstepping normal social bounds. The "in-" prefix is the same one that turns "possible" into "impossible" or "accurate" into "inaccurate," so the underlying idea is simply "not usual." The "-ency" ending in English is the regular spelling of Latin "-entia," which forms abstract nouns of state or quality from adjectives, much as "-ence" does in "confidence" or "patience."

Synonyms: impudence, impertinence, audacity, effrontery, disrespect

Antonyms: humility, modesty, respect, deference, submissiveness