bother
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɔðə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈbɒðə(ɹ)/
enpr: bŏʹ-thər
ipa: /ˈbɑðɚ/
rhymes: -ɒðə(ɹ)
Forms: form: bothers
form: bothering
form: bothered
form: bothered
Etymology: Borrowed from Scots bauther, bather (“to bother”). Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Scots pother (“to make a stir or commotion, bustle”), also of unknown origin. Compare English pother (“to poke, prod”), variant of potter (“to poke”). More at potter. Perhaps related to Irish bodhaire (“noise”), Irish bodhraim (“to deafen, annoy”).
Senses: examples: text: Would it bother you if I smoked?
synonyms: word: annoy
word: disturb
word: inconvenience
word: irritate
word: put out
word: vex
word: aggravate
word: annoy
word: rankle
word: ruffle
word: sting
word: antagonize
word: bother
word: disgruntle
word: botherate
word: bug
word: get
word: grate
word: burn up
word: bedevil
word: cheese off
word: devil
word: exasperate
word: frustrate
word: get up
word: grotch
word: hack off
word: hassle
word: irk
word: irritate
word: jazz
word: molest
word: mommick
word: nark
word: nerve
word: pee off
word: peeve
word: persecute
word: pique
word: piss off
word: provoke
word: rile
word: rile up
word: roil
word: storm
word: test someone's patience
word: tick off
word: trouble
word: try one's patience
word: vex
word: wind up
word: Idioms:
word: boil someone's piss
word: chap someone's hide
word: get on someone's nerves
word: get on someone's tits
word: get on someone's wick
word: get someone's back up
word: get someone's dander up
word: get someone's goat
word: get someone's Irish up
word: get someone's nanny
word: get someone's nanny-goat
word: get under one's goat
word: get under someone's skin
word: give someone the shits
word: grind one's gears
word: harsh one's mellow
word: put someone's back up
word: raise someone's hackles
word: rub someone the wrong way
word: rub up the wrong way
word: ruffle someone's feathers
word: tee off
word: torque off
word: agitate
word: freak
word: bother
word: bring down
word: discompose
word: disconcert
word: enturbulate
word: disturb
word: mortify
word: perturb
word: put out
word: ruffle
word: throw off balance
word: unsettle
word: upset
glosses: To annoy, to disturb, to irritate; to be troublesome to, to make trouble for.
synonyms: word: annoy
word: disturb
word: inconvenience
word: irritate
word: put out
word: vex
word: aggravate
word: annoy
word: rankle
word: ruffle
word: sting
word: antagonize
word: bother
word: disgruntle
word: botherate
word: bug
word: get
word: grate
word: burn up
word: bedevil
word: cheese off
word: devil
word: exasperate
word: frustrate
word: get up
word: grotch
word: hack off
word: hassle
word: irk
word: irritate
word: jazz
word: molest
word: mommick
word: nark
word: nerve
word: pee off
word: peeve
word: persecute
word: pique
word: piss off
word: provoke
word: rile
word: rile up
word: roil
word: storm
word: test someone's patience
word: tick off
word: trouble
word: try one's patience
word: vex
word: wind up
word: Idioms:
word: boil someone's piss
word: chap someone's hide
word: get on someone's nerves
word: get on someone's tits
word: get on someone's wick
word: get someone's back up
word: get someone's dander up
word: get someone's goat
word: get someone's Irish up
word: get someone's nanny
word: get someone's nanny-goat
word: get under one's goat
word: get under someone's skin
word: give someone the shits
word: grind one's gears
word: harsh one's mellow
word: put someone's back up
word: raise someone's hackles
word: rub someone the wrong way
word: rub up the wrong way
word: ruffle someone's feathers
word: tee off
word: torque off
word: agitate
word: freak
word: bother
word: bring down
word: discompose
word: disconcert
word: enturbulate
word: disturb
word: mortify
word: perturb
word: put out
word: ruffle
word: throw off balance
word: unsettle
word: upset
glosses: To annoy, to disturb, to irritate; to be troublesome to, to make trouble for.
Damn; curse.
examples: text: I never bother about such trivialities.
text: I wouldn't bother with an umbrella if I were you.
text: To expand, without bothering about it—without shiftless timidity on one side, or loquacious eagerness on the other—to the full compass of what he would have called a "pleasant" experience, was Newman's most definite programme of life.
ref: 1876 July, Henry James, Jr., chapter V, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 87:
synonyms: word: care
word: mind
word: becare
word: bother
word: care
word: concern oneself
word: mind
word: reck
word: trouble oneself
word: worry
glosses: To feel care or concern; to burden or inconvenience oneself out of concern.
examples: text: Why do I even bother to try?
synonyms: go to the trouble
take the trouble
glosses: To take the trouble, to trouble oneself (to do something).
examples: text: You didn’t even bother to close the door.
synonyms: go to the trouble
take the trouble
glosses: To take the trouble, to trouble oneself (to do something).
To do something which is of negligible inconvenience.