pester
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pestersimple
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pesterssimple
-
have pesteredperfect
-
has pesteredperfect
-
am pesteringprogressive
-
are pesteringprogressive
-
is pesteringprogressive
-
have been pesteringperfect progressive
-
has been pesteringperfect progressive
Past
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pesteredsimple
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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
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Stargirl
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Crash
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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
Ham-handed police officers pester Janey for details: Why did she touch Samantha’s dress?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 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
On the weekend before I left, I heard Mom pester him about whether he had told the company that he was moving to Myrtle Beach.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Bobo pesters the grown-ups with tons of pushy questions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025
He described Mr Amro as an "anarchist who frequently pesters IDF soldiers in Hebron".
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2023
Sometimes she slips up and pesters me by saying, “Steve, take out the garbage please.”
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2019
“Was I breast-fed?” he pesters his bewildered 80-year-old father.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2019
The head of the monastery, the prior, pesters Leonardo to hurry up already.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
He pestered his parents and friends about the risks of AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 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
He pestered the detective in New York, asking if there was any progress in my case.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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 idea for Campus Guardian Angel came from Justin Marston, a British entrepreneur and Mithril co-founder, who saw videos of small Ukrainian drones pestering Russian soldiers with guns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026
She added: "Your constant pestering, badgering and, eventually, attendance at their home address on a dark evening in December was unwarranted."
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025
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
Friday night, Lorren was pestering me about the Essa project while she, Traveler, and I played ATO.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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.
