Library / English Dictionary

BOTHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: bother   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness

Example:

he's not a friend, he's an infliction

Synonyms:

annoyance; bother; botheration; infliction; pain; pain in the ass; pain in the neck

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("bother" is a kind of...):

negative stimulus (a stimulus with undesirable consequences)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bother"):

nuisance ((law) a broad legal concept including anything that disturbs the reasonable use of your property or endangers life and health or is offensive)

irritant; thorn (something that causes irritation and annoyance)

plague (an annoyance)

Derivation:

bother (cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An angry disturbance

Example:

a spot of bother

Synonyms:

bother; fuss; hassle; trouble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bother" is a kind of...):

disturbance; perturbation (activity that is a malfunction, intrusion, or interruption)

Derivation:

bother (to cause inconvenience or discomfort to)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations

Example:

It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves

Synonyms:

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "bother" is one way to...):

displease (give displeasure to)

Verb group:

chafe (feel extreme irritation or anger)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bother"):

get; get under one's skin (irritate)

eat into; fret; grate; rankle (gnaw into; make resentful or angry)

peeve (cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful)

ruffle (trouble or vex)

fret (cause annoyance in)

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)

antagonise; antagonize (provoke the hostility of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

bother; botheration (something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness)

botheration (the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make confused or perplexed or puzzled

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "bother" is one way to...):

confuse; disconcert; flurry; put off (cause to feel embarrassment)

Verb group:

bother (make nervous or agitated)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will bother him

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make nervous or agitated

Example:

The mere thought of her bothered him and made his heart beat faster

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "bother" is one way to...):

agitate; charge; charge up; commove; excite; rouse; turn on (cause to be agitated, excited, or roused)

Verb group:

bother (make confused or perplexed or puzzled)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will bother him

The performance is likely to bother Sue

Derivation:

botheration (something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness)

botheration (the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Intrude or enter uninvited

Example:

Don't bother the professor while she is grading term papers

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "bother" is one way to...):

intrude; irrupt (enter uninvited)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Take the trouble to do something; concern oneself

Example:

Don't bother, please

Synonyms:

bother; inconvenience oneself; trouble; trouble oneself

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "bother" is one way to...):

reach; strain; strive (to exert much effort or energy)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sense 6

Meaning:

To cause inconvenience or discomfort to

Example:

Sorry to trouble you, but...

Synonyms:

bother; discommode; disoblige; incommode; inconvenience; put out; trouble

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "bother" is one way to...):

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on (have an effect upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bother"):

distress; straiten (bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial hardship)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

bother (an angry disturbance)

botheration (something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness)

botheration (the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed)

Credits

 Context examples: 

By Jove, no more do I. It is not my way to bother my brains with what does not concern me.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A question about whether an individual is or was bothered by a change in their eating habits.

(Bothered By a Change in Eating Habits, NCI Thesaurus)

A response indicating that an individual is or was bothered just a little.

(Bothered a Little, NCI Thesaurus)

A question about whether an individual is or was bothered by the look of their hands or nails.

(Bothered by Look of Hands or Nails, NCI Thesaurus)

A question about whether an individual is or was bothered by neck or shoulder pain or discomfort.

(Bothered by Neck or Shoulder Pain or Discomfort, NCI Thesaurus)

A response indicating that an individual is or was extremely bothered, to the point where they could not take care of things.

(Extremely Bothered, NCI Thesaurus)

A self-administered questionnaire designed to evaluate patient function and bother after prostate cancer treatment.

(Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite, NCI Thesaurus)

A response indicating that an individual is or was very bothered.

(Bothered Very Much, NCI Thesaurus)

Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) Additional Concerns: I am bothered by the chills.

(FAMS - Bothered by Chills, NCI Thesaurus)

A response indicating that an individual is or was not bothered at all.

(Not Bothered at All, NCI Thesaurus)