badger
Americannoun
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any of various burrowing, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, as Taxidea taxus, of North America, and Meles meles, of Europe and Asia.
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the fur of this mammal.
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Australian.
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a wombat.
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(initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of Wisconsin the Badger State (used as a nickname).
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a swablike device for cleaning excess mortar from the interiors of newly laid tile drains.
verb (used with object)
noun
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any of various stocky omnivorous musteline mammals of the subfamily Melinae , such as Meles meles ( Eurasian badger ), occurring in Europe, Asia, and North America: order Carnivora (carnivores). They are typically large burrowing animals, with strong claws and a thick coat striped black and white on the head Compare ferret badger hog badger
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another name for ratel
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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badgersimple
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badgerssimple
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have badgeredperfect
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has badgeredperfect
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am badgeringprogressive
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are badgeringprogressive
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is badgeringprogressive
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have been badgeringperfect progressive
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has been badgeringperfect progressive
Past
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badgeredsimple
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had badgeredperfect
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was badgeringprogressive
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were badgeringprogressive
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had been badgeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of badger
1515–25; variant of badgeard, perhaps badge + -ard, in allusion to white mark or badge on head
Explanation
Badger is to bother. Persistently. On and on. Without stop. Relentlessly. Over and over. Endlessly. It comes from the name of that chipmunk-like animal that burrows into the ground. If you badger someone, you get under their skin. A badger is an animal that digs tunnels under ground to keep warm. To badger can also mean to persuade someone through constant annoying efforts. You might badger your mom to add another hour to your curfew or badger your friend to give you a turn with a video game he has been hogging.
Vocabulary lists containing badger
A Vocabulary Bestiary: Animals That Behave as Verbs
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The Cay
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Amazing Animals, A-Z
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"He deserves better than being replaced by a badger," he said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
Captured on a quiet road in St Leonards-on-Sea, England by British photographer Ian Wood, the badger appears to glance up at a graffiti version of itself designed by the mysterious artist.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2025
A bloodied but determined honey badger pursues a Cape porcupine in Botswana.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2025
Known as Dachstag, or Badger Day, it was believed that if a badger refused to emerge from its home, locals were in for four more weeks of snow.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2025
“We is myself and this badger by the name of Gingersnipes,” Clare said.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The land abutting the Pinto Mountains Wilderness is also home to badgers, bighorn sheep and Mojave fringe-toed lizards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
Possibilities, subject to a public consultation, include badgers and otters as well as frogs, hedgehogs, barn owls and newts.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
“We’ve planted 20,000 trees around the site, we’ve replaced habitats and homes for protected species like bats, newts and badgers and created wildflower meadows specifically for wildlife foraging,” the company said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
The cameras have captured badgers, foxes and hedgehogs as well as the nesting swifts.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2025
It looked and smelled like a badger’s hole, and badgers were getting rare in our part of the world.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
His interest grew when he discovered that the cave, known as Wogan Cavern, showed little signs of previous excavation - so he "badgered" Dr Rob Dinnis, from the University of Aberdeen, to take a look.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Later headlines would say that Solanas believed Warhol “controlled her life” and that he had “legal claim” over her self-published writing, which she frequently badgered him to read.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2026
Although she performed as a hostess in Washington—she preferred it greatly to Albany—she badgered Seward almost constantly to give up politics and settle for a quiet life lawyering in Auburn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
For months, Meta’s algorithm badgered me to buy a little piece of plastic mounted on a magnet.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2025
My dad badgered us into watching Doctor Who, starting with the old-school episodes, and we got hooked.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
My agents always call me “Dr. No” because I know no matter what, even if I’m not consciously aware of it, it’s there just badgering me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Costco raised its fees in 2024 — the first such increase in seven years — after months of badgering from Wall Street.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 2, 2026
And then there are the bit players they run into throughout who, in Mr. Panahi’s acidic vision of a desperate society, tend to end interactions by badgering for a tip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
“The jury sees this, and it ends up risking looking like you’re just badgering this woman,” Haberman said.
From Salon ● May 10, 2024
She smiled at him as if he were a badgering but endearing little brother and he laughed.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
