harassment

American  

[huh-ras-muhnt, har-uhs-muhnt] / həˈræs mənt, ˈhær əs mənt /

noun

• harassments
  plural

1. an act or instance of harassing; torment, vexation, or intimidation.

   daily harassment by bullies at school;

   the harassments of daily life.

2. the condition or fact of being harassed.

   the stress of harassment and discrimination.

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Pronunciation

See harass.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overharassment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• harassments
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of harassment

First recorded in 1750–55; harass + -ment

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

harassment harassments

Studies have shown that nearly all women lawmakers experience harassment, despite being a smaller portion of representatives, and threats of violence prevent women from running for office.

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026

David has faced repeated complaints that his visual clips amount to harassment.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Adidas told us both factories had "heat-management measures", that its standards "do not permit any form of harassment", and that "no electrical-related accidents" had been found in Bowker's records.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Would you ever return to try to complete “Being Mortal,” which got shut down during production because of harassment allegations against Bill Murray?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

"A spokesman for Franklin says he's keeping a low profile due to press harassment and unfounded accusations."

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

She tells the BBC that walking in the street puts her on the edge, after repeated harassments.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory on Sunday urging Japanese citizens to use extra caution in China, citing an escalation of harassments and violent protests over the discharge of the wastewater.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2023

Between May and November 2022, she added, the number of reported harassments jumped to 14, with no assaults reported.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 5, 2023

The United States and the European Union called for a free and fair election in separate statements, and raised concerns over reports of harassments and intimidation of the opposition and civil society groups.

From Reuters ● Nov. 20, 2022

Perhaps it was only real sympathy excited by the harassments to which her husband, whom she devotedly loved, was incessantly subjected by his public activity, his reputation for wise counsel, and his ever-increasing renown.

From Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume I (of 2) A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings by Wiliam Cabell Bruce

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