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
And I never needed to pester him for stories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
It was to ensure he was comfortable with the task required to impress NFL teams that poke, prod and pester players during the evaluation process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2025
But as I tried to pester, cajole, and play to what I thought were his sympathies to convince him to speak with me, he quickly stopped being mad.
From Slate ● May 31, 2024
“He’ll see me at supper, and then he’ll pester me all night!”
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
He described Mr Amro as an "anarchist who frequently pesters IDF soldiers in Hebron".
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2023
If she pesters your husband, that’s his problem.
From Slate ● May 29, 2020
“Was I breast-fed?” he pesters his bewildered 80-year-old father.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2019
When Emily pesters her with insecure questions about her own appearance, Mrs. Webb snaps at her daughter, “You’re pretty enough for all normal purposes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2017
The head of the monastery, the prior, pesters Leonardo to hurry up already.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Dorfman pestered Larami’s owners until they finally agreed to consider it and asked him to make a prototype.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Several first-half chances came and went as Celtic pressed and pestered Bayern all over the pitch.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2025
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
The next day, Singleton pestered the T-Mobile agent.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Worn down by pestering, our parents relented and allowed ginger ale at Sunday dinner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 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
As she waits for her fiancé, who is delayed by inclement weather, to arrive, her guests buzz around her like candy-colored flies, pestering her.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2024
Davide Ancelotti had been pestering his father, Carlo, to make one particular substitution.
From BBC ● May 28, 2024
The market made no sense, but that didn’t stop other Wall Street firms from jumping into it, in part because Mike Burry was pestering them.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
