pester

American

[pes-ter] / ˈpɛs tər /

verb (used with object)

to bother persistently with petty annoyances; trouble.

Don't pester me with your trivial problems.

Synonyms:

hector, harry, badger, plague, provoke, irritate, disturb, tease, vex, annoy

Antonyms:

entertain, delight
Obsolete. to overcrowd.

pester British

/ ˈpɛstə /

verb

(tr) to annoy or nag continually

"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

Other Word Forms

pesterer noun
pesteringly adverb
pestersome adjective
unpestered adjective

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 ( pastor ); aphetic form apparently reinforced by pest ( -er ⁶ )

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.

Louis testified he felt guilty about setting up Daniel, but he wasn’t above pestering Halem and Ben for a cut of the profits.

From Los Angeles Times

For the next three days Cato was at the Haarlem police station from early morning until curfew, pestering Dutch and Germans alike to let her see her husband.

From Literature

But why were they pestering me now, when I wasn’t near any gold?

From Literature

I knew the friends and neighbors residing there wouldn’t pester me about Wonders—or anything else.

From Literature

And I never needed to pester him for stories.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023