nuisance
pronunciation
How to pronounce nuisance in British English:
UK [ˈnjuːsns]
How to pronounce nuisance in American English:
US [ˈnuːsns]
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- Noun:
- (law) a broad legal concept including anything that disturbs the reasonable use of your property or endangers life and health or is offensive
- a bothersome annoying person
Word Origin
- nuisance
- nuisance: [15] Nuisance has become much less serious over the centuries. When English originally acquired it, it meant ‘harm, injury’ (‘Helpe me to weye ageyn the feend … keepe vs from his nusance’, Thomas Hoccleve, Mother of God 1410), reflecting its origins in Latin nocēre ‘injure’ (source also of English innocent and innocuous). But gradually it softened to ‘troublesomeness’, and by the early 19th century it had acquired its present-day connotations of ‘petty annoyance’.
- nuisance (n.)
- c. 1400, "injury, hurt, harm," from Anglo-French nusaunce, Old French nuisance "harm, wrong, damage," from past participle stem of nuire "to harm," from Latin nocere "to hurt" (see noxious). Sense has softened over time, to "anything obnoxious to a community" (bad smells, pests, eyesores), 1660s, then "source of annoyance, something personally disagreeable" (1831). Applied to persons from 1690s.
Synonym
Example
- 1. That is a nuisance for those with non-lithuanian names .
- 2. They can also be a damnable nuisance .
- 3. A flooded basement is more than a nuisance , it 's an electrocution hazard .
- 4. However , although taking him is a nuisance , it does give you the opportunity to impress .
- 5. The fact is that , while the process of looking after may be an occasional treat for the guardians , to the children it is always an unmitigated nuisance .