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pester

American  
[pes-ter] / ˈpɛs tər /

verb (used with object)

  1. 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

  2. Obsolete. to overcrowd.

pester British  
/ ˈpɛstə /

verb

  1. (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 )

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.