molester

American  

[muh-les-ter] / məˈlɛs tər /

noun

1. a person who sexually assaults someone, especially a child.

   Offenders range from child pornography collectors, to molesters who use a child's body as a source of pleasure, to rapists.

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Etymology

Origin of molester

molest ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

A socialist, an accused molester and a vigilante all hoping to be New York's next mayor go head-to-head for a TV debate Thursday as the unpredictable campaign enters the homestretch.

From Barron's • Oct. 16, 2025

The interviewer, David Brody, falsely suggested that Josh Shapiro is a child molester, which should have been wacky enough for Mastriano.

From Salon • Oct. 25, 2022

She writes, “When I first saw the term child molester in a newspaper, I though it said child mole-ster, a job available to children, in which they would be paid for collecting moles.”

From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2022

Supreme Court on Monday allowed a prominent climate scientist to pursue a defamation lawsuit against a conservative magazine and a think tank that compared him to a convicted child molester.

From Reuters • Nov. 25, 2019

He must set up, forsooth, for a molester of women,—the most silly, the most villanous, the most insane conduct in the world.

From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Manzoni, Alessandro