pester
Americanverb (used with object)
-
pesters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pestered,
past participle, past
-
pestering
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pestersimple
-
pesterssimple
-
have pesteredperfect
-
has pesteredperfect
-
am pesteringprogressive
-
are pesteringprogressive
-
is pesteringprogressive
-
have been pesteringperfect progressive
-
has been pesteringperfect progressive
Past
-
pesteredsimple
-
had pesteredperfect
-
was pesteringprogressive
-
were pesteringprogressive
-
had been pesteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pester
1530–40; perhaps aphetic variant of empester, impester to tangle, encumber (though pester is found earlier than these 2 words) < Middle French empestrer to hobble, entangle < Vulgar Latin *impāstōriāre to hobble, equivalent to im- im- 1 + pāstōri ( a ) a hobble, noun use of Latin pāstōrius of a herdsman or shepherd + -āre infinitive suffix ( see pastor); aphetic form apparently reinforced by pest ( cf. -er 6)
Explanation
To pester someone is to annoyingly nag them about something. Pestering is repetitive and bothersome. When a child asks a parent something over and over again — like "Can I have candy? Please? Can I have candy now?" — that's an example of pestering. Parents also pester kids when they say "Clean your room" or "Take out the garbage" over and over. Pestering is like requesting, but doing it many times, usually to the point of annoyance. No one likes to be pestered.
Vocabulary lists containing pester
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act V
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Stargirl
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Crash
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
There’s a store chain called Five Below that is designed to maximize pester power.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
Now Spirit is gone, robbing us all of the airline likeliest to pester United, Delta, and American into lowering their prices more quickly once fuel prices go down.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
And I never needed to pester him for stories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
It’s also inadequately resourced, thanks to a management that refuses to pay nurses and living wage and, instead, sends its top representative to pester Robby about raising satisfaction scores.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2025
In jail, Amma taught me never to pester anyone about their past, but a question slips out of me before I can stop it.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
He described Mr Amro as an "anarchist who frequently pesters IDF soldiers in Hebron".
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2023
Now, she said, her family pesters her for festival tickets, and she is preparing to direct a new film to be shot in Saudi Arabia.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2021
That is, it pesters potential customers on insurers’ behalf.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2021
Sometimes she slips up and pesters me by saying, “Steve, take out the garbage please.”
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2019
Isabella d’Este pesters a friar in Florence who knows Leonardo.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
In France the government has pestered the public to wet their skin, drink cold soup and block windows with cardboard to beat the heat—anything to avoid resorting to AC.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Snead said he pestered Berry “probably jokingly at first,” before talks became more serious before and after the NFL draft in late April.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Surely only Williams pestered the woman about it afterwards.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
As we explored, I pestered Endro for the names of the trees we passed.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024
He was a curiosity in Yugoslavia, a chess-obsessed country, and was continually pestered for autographs and interviews.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Worn down by pestering, our parents relented and allowed ginger ale at Sunday dinner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
After pestering the local council into submission, two sets of goals were hammered into a nearby patch of gravel where the McGinn brothers, extended family and friends could run wild.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
Become a real nuisance and tech boosters will eventually give up, handing the future back to the pestering, teeming masses.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
The perception from many is that pestering issues aren’t being addressed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2024
But it still took many, many months of persuasive pestering before Dasch received a new German passport and a ticket back to Germany.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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.
