different between harass vs tantalize

English

Etymology

From Old French harasser (“to tire out, to vex”), of obscure origin, perhaps from Old French harer (“to stir up, provoke, set a dog on”) and/or Old French harier (“to harry”); see harry; compare Old French harace (“a basket made of cords”), harace, harasse (“a very heavy and large shield”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: h?r?s?, h??r?s, IPA^(key): /h???æs/, /?hæ??s/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: h??r?s, h?r?s?, IPA^(key): /?hæ??s/, /h???æs/
• Rhymes: -æs
• Rhymes: -ær?s

Verb

harass (third-person singular simple present harasses, present participle harassing, simple past and past participle harassed)

1. To fatigue or to tire with repeated and exhausting efforts.
2. To annoy endlessly or systematically.

   Synonyms: beset, chevy, hassle, harry, molest, plague, provoke

   • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty Chapter 23[1]

     In my old home, I always knew that John and my master were my friends; but here, although in many ways I was well treated, I had no friend. York might have known, and very likely did know, how that rein harassed me; but I suppose he took it as a matter of course that could not be helped; at any rate nothing was done to relieve me.

3. To put excessive burdens upon; to subject to anxieties.

Derived terms

• harasser
• harassful
• harassment

Translations

Noun

harass

1. (obsolete) devastation; waste
2. (obsolete) worry; harassment

   • The daily harass, and the fight delay'd

Further reading

• harass in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• harass in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• hassar

English

Etymology

From Tantalus (????????) in Greek mythology, who was condemned to Tartarus in the underworld. There, he had to stand for eternity in water that receded from him when he stooped to drink, beneath fruit trees whose branches were always out of reach.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tænt?la?z/

Verb

tantalize (third-person singular simple present tantalizes, present participle tantalizing, simple past and past participle tantalized)

1. (transitive) to tease (someone) by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach
2. (transitive) to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied

Quotations

• 1880 — John Boyle O'Reilly, Moondyne

  They could not bear to be tantalized nor tortured by the splendid delusion.

• 1884 — Edwin Abbott Abbott, Flatland, section 22

  All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud.

• “It was—simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.”

• 1936 — H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness, Ch. IX

  As we threaded our dim way through the labyrinth with the aid of map and compass ... we were repeatedly tantalized by the sculptured walls along our route. ... If we had had more films, we would certainly have paused briefly to photograph certain bas-reliefs, but time-consuming hand-copying was clearly out of the question.

Related terms

• tantalizing

Translations