heckle

[hek-uhl]

verb (used with object)

heckled, heckling 

1. to harass (a public speaker, performer, etc.) with impertinent questions, gibes, or the like; badger.

   Synonyms: hound, hector, needle, provoke, bait

2. hackle.

noun

1. hackle.

heckle

/ ˈhɛkəl /

verb

1. to interrupt (a public speaker, performer, etc) by comments, questions, or taunts

2. Also: hackle.  hatchel. (tr) to comb (hemp or flax)

noun

1. an instrument for combing flax or hemp

Other Word Forms

• heckler noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of heckle¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English hekelen, variant of hechelen “to comb flax”; akin to hackle ¹, hatchel

Word History and Origins

Origin of heckle¹

C15: Northern and East Anglian form of _hackle

Example Sentences

First Minister John Swinney was heckled outside the Scottish Parliament on Sunday as he spoke at a vigil marking the second anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel.

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The Northern Irishman was preparing to hit his approach to the 16th green when he was heckled by members of the crowd, with one shouting "freedom".

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Employees of the public works department, whose engineers have been accused of aiding in the graft, have been allowed to stop wearing their uniforms following reports that they were being heckled and harassed in public.

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On Monday, that anger reached Northern California, where Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., was jeered and heckled at two forums in Chico and Red Bluff, reportedly his first in-person town halls in nearly 8 years.

Read more on Salon

Conservative councillors were heckled with shouts of "shame" during a council debate on asylum housing.

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Related Words

• badger 
• bully 
• embarrass 
• hound 
• interrupt 
• pester 
• rattle 
• ridicule 
• taunt 
• tease