Meaning & use
hassle
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
Something that is annoying because it takes extra effort, time or patience to deal with.
Grammar: Uncountable for the general idea (it's too much hassle); countable for a particular annoyance (a hassle).
Patterns
- a hassle to do something
- the hassle of doing something
- save someone the hassle
Renewing my passport was a real hassle this year.
Taking the car to the city is more hassle than it's worth.
Booking everything online saved us the hassle of standing in line.
verbtransitive
To bother someone repeatedly, for example by pressuring or pestering them to do something.
Grammar: Takes an object: they hassled him; often followed by about or to do something.
Patterns
- hassle someone about something
- hassle someone to do something
My boss keeps hassling me about the report.
Stop hassling your sister to lend you her bike.
Street vendors hassled tourists near the entrance.
Word forms
| plural | hassles |
|---|---|
| third person singular | hassles |
| past tense | hassled |
| past participle | hassled |
| -ing form | hassling |
Common combinations
- a real hassle
- Changing flights at the last minute is a real hassle.
- too much hassle
- Cooking on a weeknight is too much hassle for me.
- save the hassle
- A pre-paid card saves the hassle of carrying cash.
- hassle-free
- We chose a hassle-free holiday package.
- hassle someone about something
- Don't hassle me about the dishes right now.
- avoid the hassle
- We left early to avoid the hassle of rush-hour traffic.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bother
- Bother is milder and can be a polite word for a small trouble, while hassle suggests more effort or ongoing annoyance.
- nuisance
- Nuisance names the person or thing causing the trouble, whereas hassle names the effort and aggravation it brings.
- inconvenience
- Inconvenience is more formal and neutral, and rarely carries the irritation that hassle does.
- pester
- Pester is the verb for nagging someone repeatedly and fits the verb sense of hassle closely, but hassle can also mean harassment or trouble.
Opposites
Word family
- hassled adjective
- stressed or harried by troubles
- hassle-free adjective
- easy, with no difficulty or extra effort
- harass verb
- a stronger, more serious word for persistent unwelcome pressure
Commonly confused: hassle or hastle? hassle or hustle?
hassle vs hastle
Hastle is a common misspelling; the correct form is hassle, with double s and no t.
hassle vs hustle
Hustle means to hurry or to work energetically, and is not the same as a hassle.
Practice
Choose the correct spelling to complete: Returning the parcel was such a ___.
Choose one answer.
The correct spelling has double s and the ending -le: hassle. The other forms are misspellings, including the often-seen hastle.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hassle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.