different between assail vs pester

English

Etymology

From Middle English assailen, from Old French asaillir, from Latin assili?, from ad (“towards”) + sali? (“to jump”). See also assault.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??se?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Verb

assail (third-person singular simple present assails, present participle assailing, simple past and past participle assailed)

1. (transitive) To attack with harsh words or violent force (also figuratively).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonby, Book 1, Canto 6, pp. 76-77,^[1]

     With greedy force he gan the fort assayle,

     Whereof he weend possesse soone to bee,

     And win rich spoile of ransackt chastitee.

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 1,^[2]

     […] let us once again assail your ears,

     That are so fortified against our story,

     What we two nights have seen.

   • 1897, Saki, “The Story-teller” in Beasts and Super-beasts, London: John Lane, 1914, p. 238,^[3]

     “ […] for the next six months or so those children will assail her in public with demands for an improper story!”

   • 1942, Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road, New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1969, Chapter 14, p. 258,^[4]

     We got married immediately after I finished my work […] which should have been the happiest day of my life. […] ¶ But, it was not my happiest day. I was assailed by doubts.

   • 2007, Ng?g? wa Thiong’o, Wizard of the Crow, Nairobo: East African Educational Publishers, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 64,^[5]

     He did not like being in crowds, foul smells galore assailing his nostrils.

Related terms

• assailable
• assailant
• assailer
• assailment
• assault
• reassail
• unassailed

Translations

Anagrams

• Alissa

English

Etymology

In the senses of “overcrowd (a place)” and “impede (a person)”: from Middle French and Old French empestrer (“encumber”), influenced by English pest. The modern sense is an extension of the sense “infest”. Comparable to English construction pest + -er (used to form frequentative verbs).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?st?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?st?/, [?p??st?]
• Rhymes: -?st?(?)

Verb

pester (third-person singular simple present pesters, present participle pestering, simple past and past participle pestered)

1. (transitive) To bother, harass, or annoy persistently.
2. (obsolete, transitive and intransitive) To crowd together thickly.

Synonyms

• badger
• bug
• hound

Derived terms

• bepester
• pester power
• pesterer
• pestery

Related terms

• pest

Translations

Noun

pester (plural pesters)

1. A bother or nuisance.

Anagrams

• Peters, Pretes, pestre, peters, pre-set, preset, serpet

Dutch

Etymology

From pesten +? -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?s.t?r/
• Hyphenation: pes?ter

Noun

pester m (plural pesters, diminutive pestertje n)

1. A person who bullies or pesters somebody.

Related terms

• pesten, pesterij

Synonyms

• pestkop

Anagrams

• perste, preest, preste, streep

French

Etymology

From peste +? -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?s.te/

Verb

pester

1. to rant, curse, fulminate

Conjugation

Further reading

• “pester” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• pertes, prêtes, prêtés

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

pester m or f

1. indefinite plural of pest

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• pestar

Noun

pester m or f

1. indefinite feminine plural of pest

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *p?str? (“variegated”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pè?st?r/

Adjective

p??st?r (comparative p??strejši, superlative n?jp??strejši)

1. colourful, variegated

Inflection

Further reading

• “pester”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran