different between worry vs nuisance

English

Etymology

From Middle English worien, werien, wirien, wirwen, wyry?en (“to choke, strangle”), from Old English wyr?an, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijan?, from Proto-Indo-European *wer??- (“bind, squeeze”). Cognate with Dutch worgen, wurgen, German würgen. Compare Latin urgere (“to press, push”), Sanskrit ????? (v?hati, “to tear out, pluck”), Lithuanian ver?žti (“to string; squeeze”), Russian (poetic) ?????????? (otverzát?, “to open”, literally “to untie”). Related to wring.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?w??i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w??i/, /?w?i/
• (General New Zealand, General Australian, non-standard) IPA^(key): /?w??i/
• (West Country, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /?w???i/
• (accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• (accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)
• Rhymes: -?ri

Homophone: wurry

Verb

worry (third-person singular simple present worries, present participle worrying, simple past and past participle worried)

1. (intransitive) To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.

2. (transitive) Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress.

3. (transitive) To harass; to irritate or distress.

4. (transitive) To seize or shake by the throat, especially of a dog or wolf.
5. (transitive) To touch repeatedly, to fiddle with.
   • 1997, David Sedaris, "A Plague of Tics", Naked, page 15:

     So what if I wanted to touch my nose to the windshield? Who was it hurting? Why was it that he could repeatedly worry his change and bite his lower lip without the threat of punishment?

   • 2002, Masha Hamilton, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, page 272:

     No stories, no arguments. He just worries his prayer beads.

6. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) To strangle.
   • 1891, Journal of Jurisprudence and Scottish Law Magazine (1891), Execution of the Judgment of Death, page 397:

     We read (Law's Memor. Pref. lix.) that "one John Brugh, a notorious warlock (wizard) in the parochin of Fossoquhy, by the space of thirty-six years, was worried at a stake and burned, 1643."

Synonyms

• (trouble mentally): fret

Derived terms

• beworry
• worried

Translations

Noun

worry (countable and uncountable, plural worries)

1. A strong feeling of anxiety.

2. An instance or cause of such a feeling.

3. A person who causes worry.

Derived terms

• worrisome
• worryful
• worryless

Translations

Scots

Verb

worry

1. (transitive) To strangle.

English

Etymology

From Middle English nuisance, from Anglo-Norman nusaunce, nussance etc., from Old French nuisance, from nuisir (“to harm”), from Latin noce? (“to harm”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?nus?ns/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?nju?s?ns/

Noun

nuisance (countable and uncountable, plural nuisances)

1. A minor annoyance or inconvenience.
   • 2010, Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (2nd Edition), The MIT Press, p. 407

     By itself, nondifferentiability at zero is a minor nuisance.

2. A person or thing causing annoyance or inconvenience.
3. (law) Anything harmful or offensive to the community or to a member of it, for which a legal remedy exists.

Synonyms

• (minor annoyance or inconvenience): annoyance, inconvenience, offense
• (person or thing causing annoyance or inconvenience): bother, obstacle, pest

Antonyms

• (minor annoyance or inconvenience): enjoyment

Related terms

• nuisance call
• nuisance tax

Translations

References

• nuisance on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Old French nuisance, from nuisir (“to harm”) (compare also French nuire), from Latin noce? (“I harm”), noc?re; may correspond to Late Latin noc?ntia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?i.z??s/
• Rhymes: -??s

Noun

nuisance f (plural nuisances)

1. nuisance
2. pollution

   Les nuisances sonores sont un véritable fléau dans ce quartier.

Related terms

• nuire

Further reading

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