Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To disturb or anger, especially by minor irritations; annoy. See Synonyms at annoy.
- v. To make agitated or nervous; fluster.
- v. To make confused or perplexed; puzzle.
- v. To intrude on without invitation or warrant; disturb.
- v. To give trouble to: a back condition that bothers her constantly.
- v. To take the trouble; concern oneself.
- v. To cause trouble.
- n. A cause or state of disturbance.
- interj. Used to express annoyance or mild irritation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To bewilder; confuse.
- To give trouble to; annoy; pester; worry.
- [Used in the imperative as an expression of impatience, or as a mild sort of execration.
- Synonyms Pester, Worry, etc. See tease, v. t.
- To trouble one's self; make many words or much ado: as, don't bother about that.
- n. Blarney; humbug; palaver.
- n. Trouble; vexation; plague: as, what a bother it is!
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To annoy, to disturb, to irritate.
- v. intransitive To do something at one's own inconvenience.
- v. intransitive To do something which is of negligible inconvenience.
- n. Fuss, ado.
- n. Trouble, inconvenience.
- interj. A mild expression of annoyance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To annoy; to trouble; to worry; to perplex. See pother.
- v. To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.
- n. One who, or that which, bothers; state of perplexity or annoyance; embarrassment; worry; disturbance; petty trouble.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make nervous or agitated
- v. to cause inconvenience or discomfort to
- n. an angry disturbance
- v. make confused or perplexed or puzzled
- v. take the trouble to do something; concern oneself
- v. intrude or enter uninvited
- v. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
- n. something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness
Etymologies
- From Scots bauther, bather "to bother". Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Scots pother "to make a stir or commotion, bustle", also of unknown origin. (Wiktionary)
- Probably from dialectal bodder, possibly of Celtic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Yeah, hats off to them, no doubt most of them have been in bother that would make any man tremble.”
“The Tongan king on the other hand is happy to have dispensed with Nepotism after sacking his own bother from the job as PM prior, and has used Sevele for bleeding the country dry of its hard earned dollars and aid by handing over millions of dollars in exchange for public owned assets that the king claimed belonged to himself.”
Global Voices in English » Fiji faces suspension from Pacific Islands Forum
“Does the impression the New York senator can't win bother her?”
“Sun Bear does have one valid complaint: Few who criticize or question his moniker bother to seriously investigate the matter by reading his blog.”
“OK, first off, does the fact that the flight number in the episode title bother anyone else?”
“Years of being “in bother” makes saying nothing as natural as breathing.”
“For anyone to say, 'I don't have a budget' or 'I don't want to bother' is like going to play professional football but saying you don't want to learn how to block," says Phillip Cook, a financial planner at Cook and Associates in Los Angeles.”
“Why do you freakin bother responding to wwallace who is a moron member of the ruling killer elite”
Think Progress » Cheney Promotes Individuals Named In Indictment
“The Bucs came out looking like the cold temperatures would once again bother them, punting on all seven of their first-half possessions.”
“(Laughter and applause) Now, the situation in Palestine is roughly this: On the north we are safe; the French have a mandate north of Damascus, about Syria and along the Baghdad Railway, and they keep us from any bother from the north.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bother’.
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FUN - Beatles song titles
Typical words from Beatles song titles. Can you recreate the titles?
(Grammatical words have been omitted)polythene, Sun King, rhythm and blues, taxman, tripper, monkey business, mailman, matchbox, rock and roll, ooh, blue jay, reprise and 388 more...
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The Other
Anything with to do with the word "other," or any sort of otherness (including words with the letters o-t-h-e-r, in that order, in their definitions).
other, Constitutive Other, The Other, Other, The Others, otherwise, othering, another, otherworldly, other-worldly, otherways, otherness and 35 more...
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unemphasized interjections
technically interjections, but usually not part of any emotive exclamation
okey-doke, ho-hum, welp, big deal, bother, hmm, iunno, mmkay, nah, crumbs, bummer, pfft and 12 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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katiefallwest's Words
facetious, hallows, snarky, literati, cantankerous, gryphon, esoteric, fortuitous, impetus, ubiquitous, muggle, colour and 144 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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TT2 Lesson 20
acknowledge, act, adult, affection, age, agreement, authority, awesome, bogus, bother, common, commonplace and 58 more...
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MEC1 Lesson 118
delve, instantly, purr, fur, merciless, stalker, pray, range, trip, inscrutable, rise, dweller and 20 more...
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KellyTheSoSo's Words
masticate, fenagle, conundrum, microfiche, excursus, vile, cavort, jammies, oroboros, buzzing, platonic, bother and 30 more...
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so near and yet so far
words that differ by only one letter, but which have quite different meanings
deadliness, headlines, grave, rave, grace, grape, graze, grate, gravy, bother, formication, fornication and 12 more...
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April28.CV.
sincerely, going to, heard, bother, pretty, come up with, a couple, stuck, rich, actually, in terms of, quite and 11 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bother.

bilby It's a bit Monty Python :-( Jun 10, 2009
vanishedone You don't say: 'Both his mother and sister had hanged themselves five years ago and this had always bothered Ligesh.'
Is this word taken to have a stronger sense in India, or is this sheer understatement? Jun 9, 2009
sionnach Is that one of Shaw's fungal plays?
Bother, mother! Not another brother! What a pother! Dec 13, 2008
bilby "PROSERPINE: Bother! You've been meddling with my typewriter, Mr. Marchbanks; and there's not the least use in your trying to look as if you hadn't.
MARCHBANKS (timidly): I'm very sorry, Miss Garnett. I only tried to make it write."
- George Bernard Shaw, 'Candida'. Dec 13, 2008