Library / English Dictionary

HARASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exhaust by attacking repeatedly

Example:

harass the enemy

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

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

aggress; attack (take the initiative and go on the offensive)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

harasser (a persistent attacker)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Annoy continually or chronically

Example:

This man harasses his female co-workers

Synonyms:

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

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

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex (cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations)

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

goad; needle (annoy or provoke, as by constant criticism)

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)

haze (harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

harasser (a persistent tormentor)

harassment (the act of tormenting by continued persistent attacks and criticism)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Promising to be with them the whole of the following morning, therefore, she closed the fatigues of the present by a toilsome walk to Camden Place, there to spend the evening chiefly in listening to the busy arrangements of Elizabeth and Mrs Clay for the morrow's party, the frequent enumeration of the persons invited, and the continually improving detail of all the embellishments which were to make it the most completely elegant of its kind in Bath, while harassing herself with the never-ending question, of whether Captain Wentworth would come or not?

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It kept up a slow fire of indignation and a trembling trouble of grief, which harassed and crushed me altogether.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Whatever occurs to harass her, usually settles in her legs; but on this occasion it mounted to the chest, and then to the head, and, in short, pervaded the whole system in a most alarming manner.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The fear of failure in these points harassed me worse than the physical hardships of my lot; though these were no trifles.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

One afternoon, when we were all harassed into a state of dire confusion, and Mr. Creakle was laying about him dreadfully, Tungay came in, and called out in his usual strong way: Visitors for Copperfield!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Grace has, on the whole, proved a good keeper; though, owing partly to a fault of her own, of which it appears nothing can cure her, and which is incident to her harassing profession, her vigilance has been more than once lulled and baffled.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I doubted not—never doubted—that if Mr. Reed had been alive he would have treated me kindly; and now, as I sat looking at the white bed and overshadowed walls—occasionally also turning a fascinated eye towards the dimly gleaming mirror—I began to recall what I had heard of dead men, troubled in their graves by the violation of their last wishes, revisiting the earth to punish the perjured and avenge the oppressed; and I thought Mr. Reed's spirit, harassed by the wrongs of his sister's child, might quit its abode—whether in the church vault or in the unknown world of the departed—and rise before me in this chamber.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was no harassing restraint, no repressing of glee and vivacity with him; for with him I was at perfect ease, because I knew I suited him; all I said or did seemed either to console or revive him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)