harassing 1 of 2

adjective

1
as in frightening

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words
2
as in annoying

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

harassing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of harass
as in killing
to use up all the physical energy of had been visibly harassed by the demands of the presidency

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of harassing
Adjective
The line is crossed when someone’s conduct at work becomes disrespectful, harassing, intimidating, discriminatory, or disruptive to the team. — Johnny C. Taylor Jr, USA Today, 30 Dec. 2025 The first complaint, in which a clerk made similar accusations of abusive and harassing conduct, was filed with the circuit court in 2022, not long after Merriam’s appointment. — Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2026
Verb
John was found guilty of harassing an ex-girlfriend later that same year. — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 28 June 2026 In Ithaca, the suitors have been eating up Odysseus’ livestock and harassing his wife for years. — David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026 Ultimately, the jailer continued the harassing behavior, and was fired, the chief deputy said. — Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 June 2026 According to Spell and members of his congregation, the man had a history of verbally harassing them with threats, insults and racial slurs. — Drew Pittock, USA Today, 25 June 2026 Unfortunately, there are several instances of bettors harassing players lately. — Geoff Clark Outkick, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2026 Crow-Armstrong’s poor offensive start doomed his chance to start, while the bad national publicity stemming from a viral video of his profane reaction to a harassing female White Sox fan probably didn’t help matters. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2026 Lively accused Baldoni in December 2024 of harassing her on the set of It Ends With Us and subsequently plotting a smear campaign against her. — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2026 The incident comes after Cunningham's teammate, WNBA star Caitlin Clark, was the victim of stalking and harassing by a different man from Texas who was sentenced last year to 2 1/2 years in prison. — ABC News, 24 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harassing
  1. frightening
  2. annoying
  3. killing
  4. persecutory
  5. inquisitive
  6. wearing
  7. chilling
  8. tiring
Adjective
  • Spain are a more understated attacking unit, and there’s a sense that while Lamine Yamal has been excellent, there is another gear for the Barcelona 18-year-old to find, which is fairly frightening for everyone else.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 4 July 2026
  • For millions of individuals and businesses who rely on professional preparers, the answer portends a frightening prospect if the return preparer is dishonest.
    — Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of frightening
Adjective
  • This is a realm of exposition-heavy opening credits, relentlessly earwormy theme tunes, and heroes who, for no obvious reason, choose to hang out with cute/annoying [delete as appropriate] comedy sidekicks like Orko and Snarf.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 5 July 2026
  • This would have evoked annoying memories of the 0-0 draw against Morocco in 2022 and 1-1 draw with Russia in 2018 for Spain.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of annoying
Verb
  • Murdaugh, once a powerful personal injury attorney in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, was convicted in 2023 of killing his wife, Maggie, 52, and their younger son, Paul, 22, at the family’s hunting estate in June 2021.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 5 July 2026
  • Shiite and Sunni Muslims have been killing each other for centuries, and the status of women in some Muslims countries is deplorable.
    — Kenneth Seeskin, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026
Definition of killing
Adjective
  • For example, Americans living during World War II developed persecutory delusions involving Germans, while those living during the Cold War focused on communists.
    — Alaina Vandervoort Burns, The Conversation, 17 Dec. 2025
Definition of persecutory
Adjective
  • If American music in 1976 represented a collective, inquisitive, inventive American spirit of discovery, the semiquincentennial in the age of social media has become more about the individual identity.
    — Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2026
  • Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 July 2026
Definition of inquisitive
Verb
  • Doctors Without Borders health workers wearing personal protective equipment move through the isolated red zone to monitor patients, provide medical care and ensure sanitation at the Ebola Treatment Center in Munigi in Congo on June 2, 2026.
    — Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 6 July 2026
  • Rodríguez Castro can be seen wearing a New York Yankees shirt, moving suggestively to driving percussive beats, punctuated by catchy, syncopated vocals.
    — Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 6 July 2026
Definition of wearing
Adjective
  • Made-from-scratch cheesecake doesn’t seem so hard when made as cupcakes where there’s no water bath, springform pan, and long chilling time required.
    — Brennan Long, Southern Living, 3 July 2026
  • Bell on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Florida’s institutional neutrality policies, which discourages university leaders from taking official positions on political issues in an effort to avoid chilling debate among students and faculty.
    — Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 1 July 2026
Definition of chilling
Verb
  • In the Los Angeles Times, Seema Mehta and Nicole Nixon report that Steyer’s ability to appear everywhere ended up tiring out voters.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 10 June 2026
  • Meanwhile, Shenzhen startup EngineAI can be forgiven for tiring out its PM01 humanoid.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 7 June 2026
Definition of tiring

Browse Nearby Words

harasses
harassing
harassment
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Harassing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harassing. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on harassing

Nglish: Translation of harassing for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All