If you say that someone is being insolent, you mean they are being rude to someone they ought to be respectful to. her insolent stare + insolence in·so·lence Pupils could be excluded from school for insolence. rude and not showing any respect (insolens , from solere )
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; "bold-faced lies"; "brazen arrogance"; "the modern world with its quick material successes and insolent belief in the boundless possibilities of progress"- Bertrand Russell
Haughty and contemptuous or brutal in behavior or language; overbearing; domineering; grossly rude or disrespectful; saucy; as, an insolent master; an insolent servant