harassment
Americannoun
-
an act or instance of harassing; torment, vexation, or intimidation.
daily harassment by bullies at school;
the harassments of daily life.
-
the condition or fact of being harassed.
the stress of harassment and discrimination.
Pronunciation
See harass.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of harassment
Explanation
If someone is abusing, insulting, or otherwise harming you on a regular basis, it's called harassment. Cruel and usually really annoying, harassment is also illegal in some cases. Harassment is a word that describes any kind of ongoing torment. At school, harassment is often known as bullying. In the workplace, employees need to be careful about sexual harassment. Harassment involves persistent attacks or abuse, and can range from shouting racial slurs to crank calling your ex-boyfriend every night at 3am. Even teasing your kid sister about her braces could be considered harassment.
Vocabulary lists containing harassment
Word Generation Weekly - Series 3
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Articles on Bullying
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Lincoln's Last Days
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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.
"I have committed neither assault nor violence nor sexual harassment," he insisted.
From Barron's • Jul. 7, 2026
But the problem runs far deeper than intentional harassment.
From Slate • Jul. 7, 2026
Roy, who has promised to turn the city attorney’s office into “the largest public interest law firm in the city,” targeting wage theft, tenant harassment and other issues, disputed Waldman’s assertion.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2026
Both Knicks and Spurs players have condemned the violence and harassment.
From BBC • Jun. 14, 2026
Yet it was a reminder of what relentless harassment and exclusion could, in some cases, produce.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
