nag
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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nags,
present (3rd person singular)
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nagged,
past participle, past
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nagging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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nags,
present (3rd person singular)
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nagged,
past participle, past
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nagging
present participle
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to find fault or complain in an irritating, wearisome, or relentless manner (often followed byat ).
If they start nagging at each other, I'm going home.
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to cause pain, discomfort, distress, depression, etc. (often followed byat ).
This headache has been nagging at me all day.
noun
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Also a person who nags, especially habitually.
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an act or instance of nagging.
His constant nagging finally got the best of me and I lost my temper.
noun
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an old, inferior, or worthless horse.
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Slang. any horse, especially a racehorse.
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a small riding horse or pony.
verb
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to scold or annoy constantly
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to be a constant source of discomfort or worry (to)
toothache nagged him all day
noun
noun
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derogatory a horse
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a small riding horse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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nagsimple
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nagssimple
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have naggedperfect
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has naggedperfect
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am naggingprogressive
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are naggingprogressive
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is naggingprogressive
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have been naggingperfect progressive
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has been naggingperfect progressive
Past
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naggedsimple
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had naggedperfect
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was naggingprogressive
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were naggingprogressive
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had been naggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nag1
First recorded in 1820–30; from Old Norse nagga “to rub, grumble, quarrel”; akin to Middle Low German naggen “to irritate”; see gnaw
Origin of nag2
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English nag(ge); connected with Dutch neg(ge) “small horse,” of obscure origin; said to be akin to neigh
Explanation
When you ask for something over and over AND over again, you are nagging. If you nag your parents long enough, they'll either give in and get you a puppy, or simply refuse any pets at all — not even a goldfish. When you nag someone, you complain and pester them. Your teacher might nag you about a late assignment, or you might nag your friend to give you back the sweater he borrowed. A thought or worry can also nag you, simply by staying in your thoughts. The word nag meant "gnaw" before the 1820s, from a Scandinavian root.
Vocabulary lists containing nag
Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 3
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Popcorn
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I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871
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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.
See Examples For:
I don’t want to nag, but neither do I want to be a doormat.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
A few doubts nag him, such as: what are he and his team accomplishing by sorting random numbers?
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2025
"Richard was incredibly keen on transplants and he used to nag me, 'what do you want to do?' and I was a bit wishy washy about it and wouldn't really answer."
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024
For all that he did this season, the Mariners’ failure to reach to the postseason and his own inconsistencies will nag at him all offseason and motivate him through workouts.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2023
But I wasn’t going to nag him or even offer myself as an example of what could go wrong.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
They tend to start quietly—an elbow that aches after the range, a shoulder that nags during the backswing, a wrist that feels tired late in the round.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
Still, it nags, especially given Alvarez’s commitment elsewhere to grungy practical sets and props.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2024
That’s why figures like Shaper, Stockwell, and Fillmore are accused of being finger-wagging nags, while doctors like Ellison are smeared as industry pawns jeopardizing public health for financial gain.
From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2023
You’ve come to know that they’re innocent and yet they’ve spent 20 or 30 years in prison for somebody else’s crime, and so the injustice is really something that still nags at me.
From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2021
Something nags at me as I stand there.
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
And when I returned in the fall of 2023 to watch Pretzel again, the feeling nagged at me that maybe I could.
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2025
But the question of what exactly the brief exchange was all about nagged at me for the rest of the day.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2024
These arguably hairsplitting thoughts nagged at me thanks to my job as a congressional correspondent focused on federal spending.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
“We really just took an extra week because it kind of nagged with him so we took an extra week to get him back,’’ Carroll said of Haynes.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 27, 2023
He failed, and Mabel’s disappearance nagged at him longer than it should have, buzzing in the stronghold of his mind.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Highlighting a nagging consumption slump, China's retail sales grew at a slower pace in July, official data showed on Monday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
For Musk, it’s a nagging reminder that he’s back in grind mode, having to deliver on all of his highflying promises for SpaceX’s performance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Turner and Barbaro have charm up the wazoo, and Gluck does a fair amount of key-jangling to distract from the nagging issues of the premise itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
But that’s precisely why I couldn’t seem to shake that one nagging question: What’s the point of all this?
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
The nagging pain was strong beneath my heart.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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.
