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
Leclerc judged the restart beautifully, while Verstappen's attempt to harry Leclerc before he bolted from the last corner backfired and he came under pressure from Sainz.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2022
"Your lord father commanded us to harry the coast, no more."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Rusty Goffe began his film career in the Gene Wilder movie, before later appearing in the original Star Wars, the Harry Potter films and Doctor Who.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
It would also give David Ellison a vast entertainment empire that includes franchises such as Harry Potter, DC superheroes and “Game of Thrones,” as well as cable networks like CNN and Cartoon Network.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Somatuline’s relatively high margin means Ipsen will have a high bar to beat when it reports earnings through 2027, RBC Europe analyst Harry Sephton said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Earl Spencer said he did not take sides - as he perceives is the "perception in the media" - in the dispute between Princes William and Harry.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Harry Seidel worked twelve hours at a time.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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
The fiend that man harries Is love of the best.
From Some Christian Convictions A Practical Restatement in Terms of Present-Day Thinking by Henry Sloane Coffin
The Welsh actor told The Times in July that playing the harried mayor was “exhausting” in a way that playing Jarvis wasn’t.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 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
Though the ring knows when I’ve been walking, it confuses my harried morning routine for housework.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
He was hanging clothes to dry in the yard and I saw his eagerness in the harried way he finished the job.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
The hustling and harrying, the scarcely human work-rate, the big-time mentality - it was all key to the win over Rangers.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
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
"So long as the harrying is done, what does it matter? No priest could do what I mean to, nor what I ask of you. I have a task that only Dagmer Cleftjaw can accomplish."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
