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.
Harassment on the street became a criminal offence on 1 April this year, and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
What is new is that the campus has agreed to refer to the definition on its Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination web page.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
In 1979, Catharine MacKinnon published her breakthrough book The Sexual Harassment of Working Women, which theorized how sexual harassment violated the law.
From Slate • Nov. 24, 2025
Harassment of journalists — especially foreign reporters — is common in China but almost never acknowledged by the state.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2024
Harassment by these pests is believed to be the leading cause of the haste with which the Caribou are frequently seen passing over the Barrens in summer.
From The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin by Harper, Francis
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.
