bother
Americanverb (used with object)
-
bothers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bothered,
past participle, past
-
bothering
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
bothers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bothered,
past participle, past
-
bothering
present participle
noun
-
bothers
plural
-
something troublesome, burdensome, or annoying.
Doing the laundry every week can be a terrible bother.
-
effort, work, or worry.
Gardening takes more bother than it's worth.
-
a worried or perplexed state.
Don't get into such a bother about small matters.
-
someone or something that bothers or annoys.
My cousin is a perpetual bother to me.
interjection
verb
-
(tr) to give annoyance, pain, or trouble to; irritate
his bad leg is bothering him again
-
(tr) to trouble (a person) by repeatedly disturbing; pester
stop bothering your father!
-
(intr) to take the time or trouble; concern oneself
don't bother to come with me
-
(tr) to make (a person) alarmed or confused
the thought of her husband's return clearly bothered her
noun
-
a state of worry, trouble, or confusion
-
a person or thing that causes fuss, trouble, or annoyance
-
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
-
bothersimple
-
botherssimple
-
have botheredperfect
-
has botheredperfect
-
am botheringprogressive
-
are botheringprogressive
-
is botheringprogressive
-
have been botheringperfect progressive
-
has been botheringperfect progressive
Past
-
botheredsimple
-
had botheredperfect
-
was botheringprogressive
-
were botheringprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
This means that if you have no better than random success at picking the best and worst days, you shouldn’t bother.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
It’s hard to tell the difference and understaffed federal agencies weren’t going to bother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Her birdie on the 13th arrived as Noh was in a spot of bother on the 12th having pushed a birdie chance way past its intended target.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Saar told The Times that she didn’t let it bother her: “I’ve always done what I did and never felt I was competing with what was going on.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The last day of school is pretty loose and they probably wouldn’t even bother to have one except that that’s when you clean out your desk.
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
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
"I think sometimes my lack of friends tends to bother the people around me more than it bothers me."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Here’s what bothers me most about this event: It wasn’t a rogue action by some “bad” AI.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Kang said it bothers him that others have died in similar incidents, and that other used cars might have the same problem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Alyssa will not forgive me, I know, but I find that bothers me less than I thought it would.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
“If she’d have gone to Lowe’s or Home Depot, it wouldn’t bother me. But you’re opening a school? That bothered me.”
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
"You could see he wasn't bothered about the stoppage, he just needed those priceless rounds. But this fight against Wach is one he will not lose under any circumstances. It's ceremonial."
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
It bothered Lacy, a serious artist who wrote with Kendrick Lamar and earned a Grammy nomination as a teenager in the R&B collective The Internet, suddenly thrust into living meme territory with “Bad Habit.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
“Nobody bothered to step up against him apart from a bin, which is a bit rubbish, isn’t it!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
She wore a basket on her head when the sun bothered her.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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
But the result is often fishy products that exist because investors aren’t bothering to do the math.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
But it still was bothering him during his latest buildup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Don’t worry, okay? And you can always talk to me if you want. Is something bothering you?”
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
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.
