harassment

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/həˈɹæsmənt/dated/ˈhæɹəsmənt/

noun

Persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress.

CommonScrabble 15

Meanings

nounharassment (countable and uncountable, plural harassments)

plural harassments

  1. countableuncountablePersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress.
  2. countableuncountableDeliberate pestering or intimidation.
    1 more example

    “As a result, OCR found that the district’s pattern of inconsistent responses to reports it received of sexual harassment – infrequently responding under Title IX or not responding at all – rose to the level that the district’s response to some families’ sexual harassment reports was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights,” a news release from DOE reads.

    2024 November 14, Lauren del Valle, “After suicide of nonbinary teen, DOE finds multiple Title IX violations at Oklahoma school district”, in CNN
  3. countableuncountablegovernmentThe use of repeated small-scale attacks to wear down an enemy force.
    1 more example

    Throughout this period, and beyond, into the rest of the battle, aircraft of various types and loadouts are crisscrossing the skies in desperate harassment attacks, with the pilots having to play constant games of "guess the carrier" to decide where to land as escort carriers are hit, sunk, disappear in columns of shell splashes, or are forced to evade at angles to the wind that make landing on them impossible.

    2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 27:22 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna feeling of intense annoyance caused by being tormented

Similar

nounthe act of tormenting by continued persistent attacks and criticism

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Frenchharassement
  2. Englishharassment

Borrowed from Middle French harassement. By surface analysis, harass + -ment.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تَحَرُّش
  • تَحَرُّش (taḥarruš)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Bengali জ্বালাতন
  • জ্বালাতন (jalaton)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Bulgarian тормо́з, дра́знене
  • тормо́з (tormóz)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • дра́знене (dráznene)deliberate pestering or annoying
Catalan assetjament
  • assetjamentpersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Chinese Mandarin 騷擾 /骚扰
  • 騷擾 /骚扰 (sāorǎo)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Danish chikane, chikane
  • chikanepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • chikanedeliberate pestering or annoying
Dutch pesterij
  • pesterijdeliberate pestering or annoying
Finnish ahdistelu, ahdistelu
  • ahdistelupersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • ahdisteludeliberate pestering or annoying
  • häirintädeliberate pestering or annoying
French harcèlement, harcèlement
  • harcèlementpersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • harcèlementdeliberate pestering or annoying
German Belästigung, Belästigung
  • Belästigungpersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • Belästigungdeliberate pestering or annoying
  • Aufdringlichkeitdeliberate pestering or annoying
Greek παρενόχληση
  • παρενόχληση (parenóchlisi)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Hebrew הַטְרָדָה
  • הַטְרָדָה (hatradá)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Hindi उत्पीड़न
  • उत्पीड़न (utpīṛan)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Italian molestia, vessazione
  • molestiapersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • vessazionepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Japanese 嫌がらせ
  • 嫌がらせ (iyagarase)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Korean 괴롭힘
  • 괴롭힘 (goerophim)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Māori whakatīwhetatanga
  • whakatīwhetatangapersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Polish molestowanie, napastowanie
  • molestowaniepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • napastowaniepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • dręczeniepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • prześladowaniepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Portuguese assédio, assédio
  • assédiopersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • assédiodeliberate pestering or annoying
  • incômododeliberate pestering or annoying
Romanian distrugere, pustiire
  • distrugerepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • pustiirepersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • deranjdeliberate pestering or annoying
  • imoportunaredeliberate pestering or annoying
Russian домога́тельства, домога́тельство
  • домога́тельства (domogátelʹstva)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • домога́тельство (domogátelʹstvo)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • хара́ссмент (xarássment)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • ха́рассмент (xárassment)persistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • беспоко́йство (bespokójstvo)deliberate pestering or annoying
  • агре́ссия (agréssija)deliberate pestering or annoying
  • оскорбле́ние (oskorblénije)deliberate pestering or annoying
  • притесне́ние (pritesnénije)deliberate pestering or annoying
Scottish Gaelic sàrachadh, sàrachadh
  • sàrachadhpersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • sàrachadhdeliberate pestering or annoying
Spanish acoso, hostigamiento
  • acosopersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • hostigamientopersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
Swedish trakasseri, trakasseri
  • trakasseripersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • trakasserideliberate pestering or annoying
Turkish taciz, taciz
  • tacizpersistent attacks and criticism causing worry and distress
  • tacizdeliberate pestering or annoying
Cite this entry
APA

harassment. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harassment

MLA

“harassment.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harassment. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “harassment,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harassment.

Source: harassment on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.