nuisance

/ˈnusns/

/ˈnjusəns/

Other forms: nuisances

Whether it’s a mosquito or your little brother pestering you about the laundry, you can use the word nuisance to describe something that causes small annoyances.

The noun nuisance traces back to the Latin word nocere, meaning “to harm.” Nuisance originally was used to refer to things that could produce serious injury and harm, but over time the word lost some of its capacity for destruction. Nowadays you’ll hear nuisance used to describe things or people that cause small problems or that bother you in annoying but trivial ways.

Definitions of nuisance

1. noun

   (law) a broad legal concept including anything that disturbs the reasonable use of your property or endangers life and health or is offensive
   types:

   abatable nuisance

   a nuisance that can remedied (suppressed or extinguished or rendered harmless)

   attractive nuisance

   anything on your premises that might attract children into danger or harm

   mixed nuisance

   a nuisance that is both a public nuisance and a private nuisance at the same time

   private nuisance

   a nuisance that interferes with your interest in and private use and enjoyment of your land

   common nuisance, public nuisance

   a nuisance that unreasonably interferes with a right that is common to the general public

   type of:

   annoyance, bother, botheration, infliction, pain, pain in the neck

   something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness
2. noun

   a bothersome annoying person
   synonyms: pain, pain in the neck

   type of:

   disagreeable person, unpleasant person

   a person who is not pleasant or agreeable