insisting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of insist.

   The teacher kept insisting that everyone redo the assignment.

   By insisting on a written contract, she avoided later disputes.

   Note

   The verb once meant literally to stand or rest upon something, a use now obsolete. Today the form carries a claim or a repeated demand, and it takes one of two constructions. A that-clause gives the content of the claim (kept insisting that everyone redo it). On, followed by a noun or a gerund, names what is demanded (insisting on a written contract). After by or without, it works as a verbal noun.

2. 2
   adjective

   Persistent and firm in making a demand or stating a point, and unwilling to let it drop.

   His insisting demands gradually wore down the committee's resistance.

   The salesman's insisting manner annoyed every customer who walked in.

   Similarinsistant

   Note

   An adjective that shares its spelling with the participle, and comparison tells them apart: a manner can be more insisting or the most insisting, which no verb form allows. It usually sits before a noun (insisting demands, an insisting manner) and names a quality rather than an act. Once the word takes a that-clause or the preposition on, it is the verb form again.

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