Meaning & use
harassed
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“harassed” is a form of “harass”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectivecomparableBritish
Looking tired and anxious because there is too much to do and too many people asking for your attention.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after be or look: a harassed mother, she looked harassed.
Patterns
- look harassed
- a harassed parent
A harassed waiter hurried between the crowded tables.
She looked harassed after a day of back-to-back meetings.
The harassed teacher tried to calm thirty noisy children at once.
verbtransitive
Past tense and past participle of harass: to trouble someone again and again with unwanted attention, threats or pressure.
Grammar: Takes an object, often in the passive: she was harassed by reporters.
Patterns
- be harassed by someone
- harass someone about something
Reporters harassed the family for weeks after the announcement.
He claimed he had been harassed by a neighbor over the fence.
The employees felt harassed by constant late-night messages from their manager.
Word forms
| base form | harass |
|---|---|
| third person singular | harasses |
| -ing form | harassing |
Common combinations
- look harassed
- He looked harassed as he searched for his keys.
- harassed by
- She was harassed by calls from a debt collector.
- feel harassed
- Many staff feel harassed by constant emails.
- harassed parent
- A harassed parent juggled three bags and a crying baby.
- sexually harassed
- The employee said she had been sexually harassed at work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stressed
- Stressed is the usual everyday word for feeling strained, while harassed adds a sense of being pulled in many directions at once.
- frazzled
- Frazzled is more informal and suggests being frayed or worn thin, whereas harassed hints at constant pressure from others.
- hassled
- Hassled is informal and often means annoyed by others, while harassed as an adjective sounds more formal and tired.
- tormented
- Tormented is much stronger and means suffering deeply, which is beyond the everyday tiredness of the adjective harassed.
Opposites
Word family
- harass verb
- to trouble someone repeatedly
- harassment noun
- unwanted behavior that troubles or threatens someone
- harasser noun
- a person who harasses others
- harassing adjective
- causing repeated trouble or annoyance
Commonly confused: harassed or hassled?
harassed vs hassled
Hassled is informal and means bothered or pestered. Harassed can be informal as an adjective, but the verb harass also has a serious legal sense.
Practice
The ___ shop assistant had three customers waiting and the phone ringing at the same time.
Choose one answer.
Harassed describes someone under pressure from too many demands. Relaxed, cheerful and bored do not fit a busy person being pulled in several directions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “harassed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.