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View synonyms for nuisance

nuisance

[ noo-suhns, nyoo- ]

noun

  1. an obnoxious or annoying person, thing, condition, practice, etc.:

    a monthly meeting that was more nuisance than pleasure.

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


nuisance

/ ˈnjuːsəns /

noun

    1. a person or thing that causes annoyance or bother
    2. ( as modifier )

      nuisance calls

  1. 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 )
  2. nuisance value
    the usefulness of a person's or thing's capacity to cause difficulties or irritation
“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of nuisance1

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English nu(i)sa(u)nce, from Anglo-French, from nuis(er) “to harm” (from Latin nocēre “to harm, injure”) + -ance -ance
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Word History and Origins

Origin of nuisance1

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

see make a nuisance of oneself .
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Example Sentences

My experience working through the many nuisances associated with vacation rentals has shown me that a compromise was the best approach for Mission Beach and is likely the best approach for San Diego.

The public nuisance complaint came down in January 2020, triggering the evacuation.

San Diego’s real estate assets director is resigning less than a week after the release of a devastating review of the city’s acquisition of a downtown high-rise that the county declared a public nuisance following a series of asbestos violations.

Then, in January 2020, after finding debris in a conference room on the seventh floor that was theoretically accessible to city workers, the county issued a public nuisance order.

A day after the fire started, the county air pollution control agency issued three violations against the Navy, citing the fire’s smoke and odors as a public nuisance under state health and safety and county codes.

Poetry would be too obvious, too ‘portrait of the artist as a young 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.

It also reduces nuisance, so there is less trouble in the neighborhood.

Beastly nuisance; we shall all have to clear out, for I suppose it won't be a mere matter of scratches.

It was rather a nuisance, too, to find that wherever he went he excited a considerable amount of attention.

Even the storage of gasoline in suitable tanks set down in the earth is not a nuisance.

Yet the business may become a nuisance when conducted in some localities, or in an improper manner.

I am very much taken with her, which causes Rubinstein to be a perfect nuisance.

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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.

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nuggetynuisance ground