Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To disturb, interfere with, or annoy.
- v. To subject to unwanted or improper sexual activity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To trouble; disturb; harass; vex; meddle with injuriously.
- Synonyms Annoy, Plague, etc. (see tease), incommode, discommode, inconvenience.
- n. Trouble.
Wiktionary
- v. To physically abuse, ( occasionaly also means sexually especially regarding a minor )
- v. To annoy intentionally
- v. To disturb or tamper with.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To trouble; to disturb; to render uneasy; to interfere with; to vex.
- n. Molestation.
WordNet 3.0
- v. harass or assault sexually; make indecent advances to
- v. annoy continually or chronically
Etymologies
- Middle English molesten, from Old French molester, from Latin molestāre, from molestus, troublesome.
Examples
“Above are the only reasons I thought you being pejorative, LMAO ... yes the only reason I have the dictionary defintion of molest is becasue I had to look up "pejorative" and I miss you too Harlan.”
“I never heard the word molest or anything like that.”
“Are we planning on occupying it forever, just to make sure that we "molest" the hell out of bin Laden when he crosses the border next time?”
The Huffington Post: Josh Mull: What's worse: Steele's Afghanistan comments or the reaction?
“In one incident, after I taught him the definition of 'molest', my colleague asked our supervisor not to molest him if his experiments didn't go well.”
“When the child is ready to disclose this kind of molest, the world responds fast, with police, interviews and arrests.”
“But I question the analyst ` s use of the word "molest," because according to the affidavit, she came back after drinking and went to bed.”
“So I don ` t know what verb you use, but "molest" doesn ` t seem to fit for me.”
“I never heard the word "molest" or anything like that, just that he hurt her.”
“Their practical system of treating "treasure trove," as I saw when serving with my regiment in Gujarßt (Guzerat), is at once to imprison and "molest" the finder, in order to make sure that he has not hidden any part of his find.”
“To a native Spanish speaker the English verb "molest" is what linguists call a "false friend.”
epeuthutebetes Ditto: to bother. Dec 16, 2008
nheiges Just means "bother" in Spanish, no sexual component. Jul 4, 2007
lucidityprevails To bother. Jan 11, 2007