nag

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The stranger wore a black suit of antique, clerical cut, a shovel hat, and gaiters; his nag was the sorriest of ponies, with a shaggy coat of flaring yellow, and so low in the legs that the broad flaps of its rider's coat all but trailed on the ground.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. transitive verb To annoy by constant scolding, complaining, or urging.
  2. transitive verb To torment persistently, as with anxiety or pain.
  3. intransitive verb To scold, complain, or find fault constantly: nagging at the children.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples (50)

  • One way not to nag is to decide that a spouse can do a job in his or her own way, and in his or her own time. usually I follow that, but in this case, I felt that time mattered, because of the nature of the problem. —  The Happiness Project
  • Patrocinio Comendador niingon nga sayo kagahapon sa buntag nag-emergency meeting sila sa City Hall. —  Sun.Star Network Online - Your Source of Philippine Community News
  • He exhibited what was known as the nag's head Swell in St. Magnus' Church, London, England, in the year 1731 The "nag's head" Swell, with its great sliding shutter, rapidly gave place to the "Venetian" Swell shades, used almost universally to this day. —  The Recent Revolution in Organ Building Being an Account of Modern Developments
  • The stranger wore a black suit of antique, clerical cut, a shovel hat, and gaiters; his nag was the sorriest of ponies, with a shaggy coat of flaring yellow, and so low in the legs that the broad flaps of its rider's coat all but trailed on the ground. —  Noughts and Crosses Stories, Studies and Sketches
  • The district lies along the lower shoulders and foothills of the Kaj-nag, and, while lacking the savage grandeur of the Lidar or Upper Sind, yet possesses the charm of infinite variety and, in this early autumn, a climate in which it is a pure joy to live. —  A Holiday in the Happy Valley with Pen and Pencil
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

insistent ·  persistent ·  gnaw ·  agonize ·  unpleasant ·  inward ·  irritate ·  painful ·  feverish ·  madden ·  continual ·  uneasy

Used in the same contextWord Family

nag:   nagging ·  nags ·  nagged
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse gnaga, to bite, gnaw.
  2. Middle English nagge, possibly of Low German origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Also written knag; properly (orig.) gnag, related to gnaw as drag to draw; cf. Swedish Norwegian nagga, gnaw, nibble, tease; a secondary form of the verb represented by gnaw, q. v.
  2. from nag, v.
  3. Formerly also neg, Scots naig, early modern English nagge; from Middle English nagge, from Middle Dutch negge, negghe, Dutch negge, a small horse; akin to neigh, q. v.
  4. Cf. knag.
 

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/næg/
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