# insist

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɪnˈsɪst/ · frequency rank #6,798

## Definitions
1. To hold up a claim emphatically.
2. To demand continually that something happen or be done; to reiterate a demand despite requests to abandon it.
3. To stand (on); to rest (upon); to lean (upon).

## Etymology
Partly from Middle French insister, from Latin īnsistere; and partly from a back-formation from insistence.
Compare typologically from the same PIE root Bulgarian настоявам (nastojavam), Russian наста́ивать (nastáivatʹ).

## Easily confused with
- **Isis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insist-vs-isis)
- **Inuit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insist-vs-inuit)
- **invest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insist-vs-invest)
- **insult** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insist-vs-insult)
- **insists** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insist-vs-insists)
- **insisted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insist-vs-insisted)
- **init** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/init-vs-insist)
- **inset** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/inset-vs-insist)
- **innit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/innit-vs-insist)
- **inside** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/inside-vs-insist)
- **insert** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insert-vs-insist)
- **insect** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insect-vs-insist)
- **incest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/incest-vs-insist)
- **indict** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/indict-vs-insist)
- **ingest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ingest-vs-insist)
- **insight** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/insight-vs-insist)

## Common misspellings (9)
`inisst`, `innsist`, `insisst`, `insistt`, `insits`, `inssist`, `inssit`, `isnist`, `nisist`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/insist