nuisance [noo -suh ns, nyoo -]
Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms for nuisance on Thesaurus.com 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. Show More
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. 2018
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.
Other questions: Should nuisance bears be euthanized if they are serial offenders?
Last year, there were a record 6,726, covering “nuisance ” behavior, property damage, injuries to bears, and injuries to humans.
But the Roma remained on the streets of French cities, perceived as a nuisance in many places, a threat in some.
Franz Joseph lit the Hofburg Palace with kerosene lamps and viewed the telephone as a nuisance .
Historical Examples of nuisance They want to loaf about, and drink, and be a nuisance to everybody, like some of the rich ones.
This fact is simply that a child is a nuisance to a grown-up person.
A nuisance on Balera, which is the equivalent of a Terran swamp.
Aunty May said it was funny, too, but Aunty Edith said it was a nuisance .
All the politicians are a nuisance , a curse, a plague worse than was any in Egypt.
British Dictionary definitions for nuisance 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 Show More
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
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Word Origin and History for nuisance n. 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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with nuisance see make a nuisance of oneself.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
