Adjacent Words

Bother definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BOTH'ER, the vulgar pronunciation of pother. [See Pother.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an angry disturbance; "he didn't want to make a fuss"; "they had labor trouble"; "a spot of bother" [syn: fuss, trouble, bother, hassle]
2: something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness; "washing dishes was a nuisance before we got a dish washer"; "a bit of a bother"; "he's not a friend, he's an infliction" [syn: annoyance, bother, botheration, pain, infliction, pain in the neck, pain in the ass] v
1: take the trouble to do something; concern oneself; "He did not trouble to call his mother on her birthday"; "Don't bother, please" [syn: trouble oneself, trouble, bother, inconvenience oneself]
2: cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves" [syn: annoy, rag, get to, bother, get at, irritate, rile, nark, nettle, gravel, vex, chafe, devil]
3: to cause inconvenience or discomfort to; "Sorry to trouble you, but..." [syn: trouble, put out, inconvenience, disoblige, discommode, incommode, bother]
4: intrude or enter uninvited; "Don't bother the professor while she is grading term papers"
5: make nervous or agitated; "The mere thought of her bothered him and made his heart beat faster"
6: make confused or perplexed or puzzled

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (bothered; bothering) Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1728 transitive verb 1. to annoy especially by petty provocation ; irk 2. to intrude upon ; pester 3. to cause to be somewhat anxious or concerned <my stomach is bothering me> — often used interjectionally intransitive verb 1. to become concerned <wouldn't bother with details> 2. to take pains ; take the trouble <never bothered to ask> Synonyms: see annoy II. noun Date: 1788 1. a. a state of petty discomfort, annoyance, or worry b. something that causes petty annoyance or worry 2. fuss

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v., n., & int. --v. 1 tr. a give trouble to; worry, disturb. b refl. (often foll. by about) be anxious or concerned. 2 intr. a (often foll. by about, or to + infin.) worry or trouble oneself (don't bother about that; didn't bother to tell me). b (foll. by with) be concerned. --n. 1 a a person or thing that bothers or causes worry. b a minor nuisance. 2 trouble, worry, fuss. --int. esp. Brit. expressing annoyance or impatience. Phrases and idioms: cannot be bothered will not make the effort needed. Etymology: Ir. bodhraim deafen

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bother Both"er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bothered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bothering.] [Cf. Ir. buaidhirt trouble, buaidhrim I vex.] To annoy; to trouble; to worry; to perplex. See Pother. Note: The imperative is sometimes used as an exclamation mildly imprecatory.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bother Both"er, v. i. To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome. Without bothering about it. --H. James.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bother Both"er, n. One who, or that which, bothers; state of perplexity or annoyance; embarrassment; worry; disturbance; petty trouble; as, to be in a bother.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bothers, bothering, bothered) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you do not bother to do something or if you do not bother with it, you do not do it, consider it, or use it because you think it is unnecessary or because you are too lazy. Lots of people don't bother to go through a marriage ceremony these days... Most of the papers didn't even bother reporting it... Nothing I do makes any difference anyway, so why bother? ...and he does not bother with a helmet either. VERB: with brd-neg, V to-inf, V -ing, V, V with/about n 2. Bother means trouble or difficulty. You can also use bother to refer to an activity which causes this, especially when you would prefer not to do it or get involved with it. I usually buy sliced bread–it's less bother... Most men hate the bother of shaving. = trouble N-UNCOUNT: also a N 3. If something bothers you, or if you bother about it, it worries, annoys, or upsets you. Is something bothering you?... That kind of jealousy doesn't bother me... It bothered me that boys weren't interested in me... Never bother about people's opinions. VERB: V n, V n, it V n that/wh, V about n, also it V n to-inf • bothered I was bothered about the blister on my hand... I'm not bothered if he has another child. ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about n 4. If someone bothers you, they talk to you when you want to be left alone or interrupt you when you are busy. We are playing a trick on a man who keeps bothering me... I don't know why he bothers me with this kind of rubbish. VERB: V n, V n with/about n 5. If you say that you can't be bothered to do something, you mean that you are not going to do it because you think it is unnecessary or because you are too lazy. I just can't be bothered to look after the house... PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to-inf 6. hot and bothered: see hot

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Perplex, worry, harass, trouble, annoy, tease, vex, plague, molest, incommode, disturb, pester, pother. II. n. (Colloq.) Perplexity, vexation, annoyance, plague, trouble, pother.

Moby Thesaurus

abash, abrade, abuse a privilege, addle, addle the wits, ado, afflict, aggravate, aggravation, agitate, agitation, ail, annoy, annoyance, anxiety, awkwardness, bad news, badger, baffle, bafflement, bait, ball up, be at, be the matter, becloud, bedazzle, bedevil, bedevilment, befuddle, befuddlement, beset, besetment, bewilder, bewilderment, bore, botheration, bothersomeness, brawl, bristle, broil, brouhaha, brown off, bug, bullyrag, burden, burdening, burn up, burst, bustle, can of worms, chafe, chaos, charging, chivy, cloud, clumsiness, commotion, complicate matters, concern, confoundment, confuse, confusion, crashing bore, daze, dazzle, demand, devil, devilment, difficulty, dilemma, disaccommodate, disadvantage, discombobulate, discombobulation, discomfit, discomfiture, discomfort, discommode, discommodity, discompose, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment, dismay, disoblige, disorder, disorganization, disorganize, disorient, disorientation, disquiet, distemper, distress, disturb, disturbance, dither, dog, dogging, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, downer, drag, dustup, effort, embarrass, embarrassment, embroilment, encroach upon, enigma, entangle, evil, exaction, exasperate, exasperation, exercise, fash, feery-fary, ferment, fidgetiness, fit, fix, flap, flummox, flurry, fluster, flusteration, flustration, flutter, flutteriness, fog, foofaraw, fracas, frazzle, free-for-all, freighting, frenzy, fret, fuddle, fuddlement, fuss, fuss at, fussiness, get, give concern, great ado, gripe, harass, harassment, harry, harrying, hassle, haze, headache, heckle, hector, helter-skelter, hound, hounding, hubbub, hullabaloo, impose on, impose upon, imposing an onus, imposition, incommode, incommodity, inconsiderateness, inconvenience, inconveniency, inconvenientness, infliction, irk, irritant, irritate, irritation, jam, jumble, lather, laying on, load with care, loading, loading down, maelstrom, make free with, matter, maze, melee, mess, miff, mist, mix up, moider, molest, molestation, muddle, muddlement, mystery, nag, needle, nettle, nonplus, nudge, nudzh, nuisance, obtrude upon, obtrusiveness, overstep, pain, peck of troubles, peeve, pell-mell, perplex, perplexity, persecute, persecution, perturb, perturbation, pest, pester, pet, pick on, pickle, pique, plague, plight, pluck the beard, pother, predicament, presume on, presume upon, presumptuousness, problem, provoke, pucker, put out, put to inconvenience, put to it, put to trouble, puzzle, puzzlement, quandary, racket, raise hell, rampage, rattle, restlessness, riddle, ride, rile, riot, roil, rough-and-tumble, roughhouse, row, ruckus, ruction, ruffle, rumpus, scramble, scrape, sea of troubles, shindy, shuffle, spasm, spurt, stew, stir, sweat, swirl, swivet, take a liberty, take liberties, tasking, taxing, tease, throw into confusion, tizzy, to-do, torment, trial, trouble, troublesomeness, try the patience, tumult, turmoil, tweak the nose, twitter, twitteration, unassuredness, unhandiness, unhinge, unquiet, unsettle, unsettlement, unwarranted demand, unwieldiness, uproar, upset, vex, vexation, vexatiousness, vortex, weighting, whirl, worriment, worry