nagging

[nag-ing]

adjective

1. continually faultfinding, complaining, or petulant.

   a nagging parent.

2. persistently recurring; unrelenting.

   a nagging backache.

Other Word Forms

• naggingness noun
• unnagging adjective
• unnaggingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of nagging¹

First recorded in 1830–40; nag ¹ + -ing ²

Example Sentences

The balance between attack and defence has been the issue nagging England throughout Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum's reign as captain.

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Perhaps she was still discombobulated from the fall, but Penelope had a nagging sense that Judge Quinzy’s tale did not quite add up.

Read more on Literature

No one today any longer wishes to hear jokes about nagging mothers-in-law, spendthrift wives or old jalopies, and the men and women who once told them to hardy plaudits are now forgotten.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Doncic, whose weight has fluctuated and who has sometimes missed games with nagging injuries, didn’t quite fit the template.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The actor said she was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year after consulting a doctor about a nagging feeling that something “wasn’t quite right” with her body.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• aching 
• agonizing 
• excruciating 
• grievous 
• inflamed www.thesaurus.com
• severe 
• terrible 
• throbbing 
• troublesome