badger
Americannoun
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badgers
plural
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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)
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badgers,
present (3rd person singular)
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badgered,
past participle, past
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badgering
present participle
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:
Tejon means “badger” in Spanish, and all it took was some Spaniard on an 1806 expedition happening upon a dead badger there for the name to stick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
"He deserves better than being replaced by a badger," he said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
The Government last month said it will not be extending the badger cull and retains its commitment to end the practice before the next election.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2025
A bloodied but determined honey badger pursues a Cape porcupine in Botswana.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2025
With All Hallows’ Eve only two days away, the omen and the arrival of the badger could certainly be connected.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The lakes region Mr. Hoffman describes as “magnetic and mercurial” is home to bears, wolves, badgers, otters and a surprising variety of other creatures, yet their ways of life are being threatened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
A previous order by former minister Edwin Poots for a cull of badgers was quashed by the High Court.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
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
Seen from a car window they appear as fragments, evoking memories of woodchucks, badgers, skunks, voles, snakes, sometimes the mysterious wreckage of a deer.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
In another encounter, he says, a woman appeared to have been "badgered into it".
From BBC ● Jun. 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
When Stolz was just 11 years old in Wisconsin, he badgered his then-coach, Jeff Brand, into letting him tag along in an “ice marathon” workout—100 laps and 40,000 meters, or just shy of 25 miles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
For months, Meta’s algorithm badgered me to buy a little piece of plastic mounted on a magnet.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2025
In English class, everyone badgered Mr. Birk-way to finish reading the journal entry that he had begun yesterday, the one about Mrs. Corpse and the body, but Mr. Birkway did not read any more journals.
From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
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
After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from table top snooker with aplomb.
From BBC ● Jan. 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
During the trial, throughout which Heard was subject to badgering online, Heard expressed her desire to forgo the “torture” of the ongoing litigation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 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.
