harassment
/həˈɹæsmənt/ · har·ass·ment
noun
- Persistent attacks, criticism, or other behavior that causes worry and distress. The employee filed a complaint after weeks of harassment from her supervisor.
- Deliberate pestering or annoying conduct. Repeated phone calls from unknown numbers amounted to telephone harassment.
- Excessive intimidation intended to control or coerce another person. The protestors accused the police of harassment during the crowd‑control operation.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Did you know? The verb ‘harass’ entered English from French in the 1790s, originally meaning ‘to exhaust a horse by overworking it’, before acquiring its modern sense of persistent annoyance.