hassle
/ˈhæsl̩/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms hassles hassling hassled
- noun Trouble, bother, unwanted annoyances or problems. “I went through a lot of hassle to be the first to get a ticket.”
- noun A fight or argument.
- noun An action which is not worth the difficulty involved.
- verb (transitive) To trouble, to bother, to annoy. “The unlucky boy was hassled by a gang of troublemakers on his way home.”
- verb (transitive) To pick a fight or start an argument with.
- verb (transitive) To work through something troublesome; to be bothered by. “If you don't want to hassle through converting formats, you'll have to stick with one program.”
- verb (military, aviation, slang) To engage in a mock dogfight.
- adjective (Philippines) hassling; hasslesome
Synonyms
disturb irritate molest aggravate annoy nettle rankle ruffle sting burn someone's ass antagonize bother disgruntle botherate bug get grate burn up bedevil acerbate fuss trouble scuffle tussle dogfight rough-and-tumble harass harry chivy chivvy
Etymology
Unknown. Probably from US Southern dialectal hassle (“to pant, breathe noisily”), possibly from haste + -le (frequentative suffix).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “hassle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details