bother
Americanverb (used with object)
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bothers,
present (3rd person singular)
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bothered,
past participle, past
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bothering
present participle
verb (used without object)
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bothers,
present (3rd person singular)
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bothered,
past participle, past
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bothering
present participle
noun
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bothers
plural
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something troublesome, burdensome, or annoying.
Doing the laundry every week can be a terrible bother.
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effort, work, or worry.
Gardening takes more bother than it's worth.
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a worried or perplexed state.
Don't get into such a bother about small matters.
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someone or something that bothers or annoys.
My cousin is a perpetual bother to me.
interjection
verb
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(tr) to give annoyance, pain, or trouble to; irritate
his bad leg is bothering him again
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(tr) to trouble (a person) by repeatedly disturbing; pester
stop bothering your father!
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(intr) to take the time or trouble; concern oneself
don't bother to come with me
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(tr) to make (a person) alarmed or confused
the thought of her husband's return clearly bothered her
noun
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a state of worry, trouble, or confusion
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a person or thing that causes fuss, trouble, or annoyance
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informal a disturbance or fight; trouble (esp in the phrase a spot of bother )
interjection
Synonym Usage
Bother, annoy, plague, tease imply persistent interference with one's comfort or peace of mind. Bother suggests causing trouble or weariness or repeatedly interrupting in the midst of pressing duties. To annoy is to vex or irritate by bothering. Plague is a strong word, connoting unremitting annoyance and harassment. To tease is to provoke or irritate persistently with petty distractions.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bothersimple
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botherssimple
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have botheredperfect
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has botheredperfect
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am botheringprogressive
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are botheringprogressive
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is botheringprogressive
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have been botheringperfect progressive
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has been botheringperfect progressive
Past
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botheredsimple
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had botheredperfect
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was botheringprogressive
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were botheringprogressive
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had been botheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bother
First recorded in 1710–20; origin obscure; originally Hiberno-English; perhaps a hypercorrection of bodder, an alternative early form; perhaps a variant of pother ( def. )
Explanation
The word bother has many shades of meaning, but most of them involve trouble of some sort. You might wonder why you should bother to follow a recipe, until you taste what you've made without one. As a verb, bother can mean that you take the trouble to do something. It’s often presented as a negative: you might not bother to lock the house, or you may wonder why you should bother reading the instructions that came with your phone. Bother can also mean that you’re bugging someone or causing a minor inconvenience. The word can also have a sense of deeper worry, especially when something is bothering you, like a nagging sense of guilt.
Vocabulary lists containing bother
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 4
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"Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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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:
That is the part that should bother you — nobody has to plan it anymore.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
Based on the evidence, my answer should be straightforward: Don’t bother with the whole-body MRI scan.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
While the film frets that the stupids are building an army to overthrow the world, it can’t even bother to come up with a counterrevolution.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
But she also believed in having fun; otherwise why bother?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
“But we need to go. If we don’t, one of us will have to tell Mr. Palmer that we didn’t bother to look for his kids.”
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
"I figure it'll probably disintegrate and probably nobody will ever hear it, that's what bothers me... if it rots in there before they open it."
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
I think this really bothers a lot of young people.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
What bothers me is that you signed a document — we don’t even know if it was an acceptance of appointment — without reading it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
When Major League Baseball unveiled its initial batch of All-Star voting results Monday, four players from the team that so bothers the rest of America were in position to make the National League starting lineup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
“He bothers you again, you walk away, understand?”
From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome
"I'm not bothered, I've dealt with worse," Conor Benn added.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
"They never bothered to tell us that that's what's happening," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The lines reveal a man so contemptuous of views different from his own that he can’t be bothered to understand them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
In a video on X, external, Count Binface - who is comedian Jonathan Harvey without the costume - said he was the "winning candidate… of the candidates who bothered to turn up".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
When I asked Mom why they bothered, when all that stuff would be gone soon, her eyes filled with tears.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Ohtani reported that the area from his biceps to his neck was bothering him Wednesday night, Roberts said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
When it offered him half a song, he said, “Good enough” — without even bothering to run it through a few rounds of polishing.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
"I'm more bothered that England hasn't won the World Cup than I am to have a tattoo on my leg," the 36-year-old said, adding: "It's not bothering me. It's just a tattoo."
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Stop bothering Kim, OK?” the man said, according to Ma.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Well, I hurried down the lane, not even bothering to remove my apron.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
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.
