harass
Americanverb (used with object)
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to disturb or bother persistently; torment, as with troubles or cares; pester.
He stays up late, harassed with doubt and anxiety.
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to intimidate or coerce, as with persistent demands or threats.
Apparently a parent has been harassing the school principal with late-night phone calls.
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to subject to unwelcome sexual advances.
I was harassed by my boss many years ago.
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to trouble by repeated attacks, incursions, etc., as in war or hostilities; harry; raid.
verb
Pronunciation
harass , a 17th-century borrowing from French, has traditionally been pronounced in English as , with stress on the first syllable. A newer pronunciation, , has developed in North American (but not British) English and has become the more common one in the U.S., especially among younger speakers.
Related Words
See worry.
Other Word Forms
- harassable adjective
- harassed adjective
- harasser noun
- harassing adjective
- harassingly adverb
- harassment noun
- overharass verb (used with object)
- unharassed adjective
Etymology
Origin of harass
First recorded in 1610–20; from French, Middle French harasser “to harry, harass,” verbal derivative of harace, harache (in phrase courre a la harace “pursue”), equivalent to hare “cry used to urge dogs on” (from Frankish hara (unattested) “here, from this side”; compare Old High German hera, Middle Dutch hare ) + -asse augmentative or pejorative suffix, from Latin -ācea
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.
This is no longer about ideology, this is about standing up for those who are being wrongly arrested, being unfairly harassed or being made to feel constantly frightened in their own homes.
From Los Angeles Times
Instead of harassing myself over my housing stability as proof of a character flaw, I reframed my moves as a whimsical plot twist, just as she had.
From Los Angeles Times
Iran has harassed commercial vessels in the crucial waterway—the gateway to the Persian Gulf—during previous periods of tension, but such incidents have been rare recently.
He told CBS that investigators would try to determine if Guthrie was being stalked or harassed.
From BBC
“They should not be anonymous. They should be identifiable. And they have to have rules of engagement that don’t allow them to terrorize and intimidate, harass and assault U.S. citizens and other people,” he said.
From Salon
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.
