harry
verb (used with object)
to harass, agitate, or trouble by or as if by repeated attacks; beleaguer.
harry
1 American
[har-ee]
/ ˈhær i /
verb (used with object)
-
harries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
harried,
past participle, past
-
harrying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
harries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
harried,
past participle, past
-
harrying
present participle
Harry
2
American
[har-ee]
/ ˈhær i /
noun
harry
British
/ ˈhærɪ /
verb
-
(tr) to harass; worry
-
to ravage (a town, etc), esp in war
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
harrysimple
-
harriessimple
-
have harriedperfect
-
has harriedperfect
-
am harryingprogressive
-
are harryingprogressive
-
is harryingprogressive
-
have been harryingperfect progressive
-
has been harryingperfect progressive
Past
-
harriedsimple
-
had harriedperfect
-
was harryingprogressive
-
were harryingprogressive
-
had been harryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of harry
First recorded before 900; Middle English herien, Old English her(g)ian (derivative of here “army”); cognate with German verheeren, Old Norse herja “to harry, lay waste”
Explanation
When one army sends raiding parties into another's territory, they're harrying them. They're not making an all-out attack, they're just trying to bother and distract the other army. Although harry is not a word you hear commonly now, it does frequently occur as harried — which is an adjective used to describe what it feels like to be asked for things from all sides. You might feel harried during final exams, or two days before Christmas, if you haven't yet started your shopping.
Vocabulary lists containing harry
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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:
Kounde cleared off the line and Garcia tipped Fernandez's near-post drive away as Espanyol continued to harry Flick's side.
From Barron's ● Jan. 3, 2026
Ukraine has long used domestically produced weapons, such as drones, to harry Russia with strikes that sometimes target Moscow itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2024
Blackthorne is part of a small fleet commissioned by England to find the mysterious and very wealthy island of Japan, and harry any Catholic forces along the way.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
Rangers did slowly begin to assert themselves and pin their opponents back, but they met a side hard-wired to block, harry, do anything to maintain their lead.
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2022
"You are young. Other wars will come, and you shall do your great deeds. For now, we are commanded to harry the Stony Shore."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Harry Kane later departed Tottenham for Bayern Munich despite sitting only 47 goals behind Alan Shearer's Premier League record of 260.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Sen. Harry Reid, and later launched a long-shot bid for California governor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Mahalia Jackson’s gospel anthems and Harry Belafonte’s interpretations of calypso music took on special relevance for the civil-rights movement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
University of Sussex physiology professor Harry Witchel, who has a long-running interest in soundscapes, argues that it makes sense in the context of young people's brain development.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
“But that’s part of the orchard. That’s Alice and Harry and Bernice and Jacques Cousteau,” I told him, in case he didn’t realize who he was talking about.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
In the book, she’s a paper-thin virtual idol, whom Wade stalks and harries for attention.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 28, 2018
He hustles and harries various Chelsea defenders in quick succession as they pass the ball out from the back, no doubt knackering himself out in the process.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 12, 2017
Nelson harries the French fleet in the Mediterranean.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2014
He harries attacking midfielders, breaks up passes, and clogs space.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2014
Such a motive often harries audacious men into guilt, but it has no power to impel an upright man to sin.
From The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 by Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Fitzgerald calls him a wanderer “skilled in all ways of contending . . . harried for years on end.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Initially, Joe and Angela don’t look so different from the pictures of couples we’ve seen before: harried and married, dead when they wed.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
A key measure of inflation used by the Federal Reserve to set interest rates posted the biggest increase in March in almost three years, marking another major hurdle for a resilient but harried U.S. economy.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
Igor Jesus hit his own bar, Richarlison pressed and harried and Mathys Tel produced one of his better displays.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
Forty minutes go by before anyone acknowledges my presence with more than a harried nod.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
PGE would eventually shutter Trojan after decades of regulatory violations, forced shutdowns, construction flaws, costly repairs and constant harrying from antinuclear activist Lloyd Marbet through the state council.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025
According to a reporter’s intrepid Freedom of Information Act inquiries, enthusiastic pickleball ambassadors are employing the “USA Pickleball tool kit” and harrying local park departments to elbow out their tennis-and-basketball-playing neighbors.
From Slate ● Dec. 7, 2023
Mainz had defended well up to then, frustrating the visitors with persistent harrying and it looked like Lee Jae-sung’s first-half header was going to be enough to win the game.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 27, 2023
They played with intensity on Sunday as they continued their fight for the title, with Toone harrying in midfield while Galton, Parris and Ona Batlle tormented the visitors on the wings.
From BBC ● May 7, 2023
Only a few months before, she’d been peeling and stewing the soft food he ate, changing his diapers, cleaning his bedding and pajamas, and harrying his body with moistened towels and Q-tips.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
