Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To irritate or torment persistently.
- v. To wear out; exhaust.
- v. To impede and exhaust (an enemy) by repeated attacks or raids.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To fatigue or tire out, as with annoying labor, care, importunity, enforced watchfulness, misfortune, etc.; distress by perplexity; wear out, as with toil.
- Milit.: To annoy by repeated attacks; keep constantly on the defensive.
- To lay waste or desolate; raid.
- To rub or scrape.
- Synonyms Distress, etc. (see afflict); to jade, disturb, exhaust, fag. See trouble.
- n. Harassment.
Wiktionary
- v. To fatigue or to tire with repeated and exhausting efforts
- v. To annoy endlessly or systematically; to molest
- v. to put excessive burdens upon; to subject to anxieties
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To fatigue; to tire with repeated and exhausting efforts; esp., to weary by importunity, teasing, or fretting; to cause to endure excessive burdens or anxieties; -- sometimes followed by
out . - n. Devastation; waste.
- n. Worry; harassment.
WordNet 3.0
- v. annoy continually or chronically
- v. exhaust by attacking repeatedly
Etymologies
- French harasser, possibly from Old French harer, to set a dog on, from hare, interj. used to set a dog on, of Germanic origin.
Examples
“After the fight that we didn't get to see with Bumblebee because we were forced to see a robotic gremlin harass 2 annoying kids, Barricade disappeared from the film.”
New Transformers 2 Details Revealed at Hasbro Licensing Summit | /Film
“I might also be said to be intending to "harass" -- who knows, given how vague the term is?”
“February 10th, 2010 at 6: 09 pm by the time you’re harassing Pomona College students, the only more inoffensive and unlikely Americans left to harass is a senior citizens’ yoga group.”
“Anyway, Myles wins the thread – by the time you’re harassing Pomona College students, the only more inoffensive and unlikely Americans left to harass is a senior citizens’ yoga group.”
“Day to day, though, censorship is less about dissuading the truly motivated (though, if it can make them easy to detect and harass, that is a plus) and more about preventing the casual from becoming motivated.”
“They think our money is spent paying officers to "harass" the hunting public or pick up dead deer along the highways.”
“Would that more foreigners would "harass" people in this way in Taiwan.”
“Despite the frequency with which I use the verb "harass," I think this entry should've been entitled "Hassle Hasbro.”
“Another opposition deputy singled out by Mugabe, Mike Auret, said there was nothing that Mugabe could "harass" him for.”
“Immigration officials in the Transkei region were on a new campaign to "harass" expatriate teachers who had no work permits, a delegation of Indian nationals claimed in Umtata at the weekend.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘harass’.
-
Eesily missspellable words
absence, abundance, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, across and 420 more...
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
The Request Line
This is the place to add words you'd like Charles Harrington Elster to pronounce for you!
swingeing, affiant, dahlia, hydrangea, re, clematis, Nabokov, casu marzu, schadenfreudgeon, nefarious, mewl, manteion and 170 more...
-
Words I Misspell
There are words suffering from a butcher.
prioprietary, definitely, a lot, bellwether, committed, daiquiri, existence, gauge, guard, guarantee, harass, lightning and 7 more...
ruzuzu Thanks, chelster! Mar 23, 2011
ruzuzu "USAGE NOTE: Educated usage appears to be evenly divided on the pronunciation of harass. In a recent survey 50 percent of the Usage Panel preferred a pronunciation with stress on the first syllable, while 50 percent preferred stress on the second syllable. Curiously, the Panelists' comments appear to indicate that each side regards itself as an embattled minority."
--from The American Heritage Dictionary (3d ed.) Mar 21, 2011
bilby The -ass is prevalent for me. So to speak. Oct 21, 2008
kewpid "harris" or "har-rass" ? Jan 4, 2008
adm one "r" or two, in all its forms? a long-time pain for me. Dec 5, 2006