nuisance

[noo-suh ns, nyoo-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nuisance ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an obnoxious or annoying person, thing, condition, practice, etc.: a monthly meeting that was more nuisance than pleasure.

Law. something offensive or annoying to individuals or to the community, especially in violation of their legal rights.

Origin of nuisance

1375–1425; late Middle English nu(i)sa(u)nce < Anglo-French, equivalent to nuis(er) to harm (≪ Latin nocēre) + -ance -ance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for nuisance

gadfly, louse, irritation, offense, bore, creep, nudge, nag, exasperation, terror, pill, headache, blister, pain, infliction, inconvenience, drag, plague, bum, trouble

Examples from the Web for nuisance

Contemporary Examples of nuisance

If my legs made me a nuisance, I vowed to become less of one.
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’
Eileen Cronin
April 8, 2014
Other questions: Should nuisance bears be euthanized if they are serial offenders?
In Florida, Sprawling Humans Confront the Bears Who Lived There First
Jacqui Goddard
March 22, 2014
Last year, there were a record 6,726, covering “nuisance” behavior, property damage, injuries to bears, and injuries to humans.
In Florida, Sprawling Humans Confront the Bears Who Lived There First
Jacqui Goddard
March 22, 2014
But the Roma remained on the streets of French cities, perceived as a nuisance in many places, a threat in some.
Roma Immigrants Have Set France on Edge
Christopher Dickey, Alice Guilhamon
October 4, 2013
Franz Joseph lit the Hofburg Palace with kerosene lamps and viewed the telephone as a nuisance.
Before the Fall: What Did the World Look Like in 1913?
Jacob Heilbrunn
June 9, 2013

Historical Examples of nuisance

They want to loaf about, and drink, and be a nuisance to everybody, like some of the rich ones.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
This fact is simply that a child is a nuisance to a grown-up person.
A Treatise on Parents and Children
George Bernard Shaw
A nuisance on Balera, which is the equivalent of a Terran swamp.
Join Our Gang?
Sterling E. Lanier
Aunty May said it was funny, too, but Aunty Edith said it was a nuisance.
W. A. G.'s Tale
Margaret Turnbull
All the politicians are a nuisance, a curse, a plague worse than was any in Egypt.
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863
Adam Gurowski

British Dictionary definitions for nuisance

nuisance

noun

a person or thing that causes annoyance or bother
(as modifier)nuisance calls

law something unauthorized that is obnoxious or injurious to the community at large (public nuisance) or to an individual, esp in relation to his ownership or occupation of property (private nuisance)

nuisance value the usefulness of a person's or thing's capacity to cause difficulties or irritation

Word Origin for nuisance

C15: via Old French from nuire to injure, from Latin nocēre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nuisance

c.1400, "injury, hurt, harm," from Anglo-French nusaunce, Old French nuisance "harm, wrong, damage," from past participle stem of nuire "to harm," from Latin nocere "to hurt" (see noxious). Sense has softened over time, to "anything obnoxious to a community" (bad smells, pests, eyesores), 1660s, then "source of annoyance, something personally disagreeable" (1831). Applied to persons from 1690s.

Idioms and Phrases with nuisance

nuisance

see make a nuisance of oneself.