badger

verb

badgered; badgering; badgers

transitive verb

: to harass or annoy persistently

… the mill foreman so taunted the workers, so badgered them and told them that they dared not quit …

—Sinclair Lewis

Choose the Right Synonym for badger

bait, badger, heckle, hector, chivy, hound mean to harass by efforts to break down.

bait implies wanton cruelty or delight in persecuting a helpless victim.

baited the chained dog

badger implies pestering so as to drive a person to confusion or frenzy.

badgered her father for a car

heckle implies persistent annoying or belligerent interruptions of a speaker.

drunks heckled the stand-up comic

hector carries an implication of bullying and domineering.

football players hectored by their coach

chivy suggests persecution by teasing or nagging.

chivied the new student mercilessly

hound implies unrelenting pursuit and harassing.

hounded by creditors

Examples of badger in a Sentence

She finally badgered me into going.

Recent Examples on the Web

The stunning outcome caps a career like few others and shows the extent of the president’s ability to badger, badmouth and eventually boot out his political adversaries — and that no lawmaker is apparently safe. —ABC News, 20 May 2026

For those who have been told or badgered by family members to book travel early, doing so 21 days to 35 days ahead of travel resulted in an even more expensive 33% ticket hike. —Miami Herald, 19 May 2026

Nobody wants to be badgered for 30 days. —Dave Knox, Forbes.com, 14 May 2026

Unlike during Warsh’s first stint at the Fed, the current president has been badgering the central bank for rate cuts. —Reuters, NBC news, 13 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

from the sport of baiting badgers

First Known Use

1782, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

badger

1 of 2 noun

bad·​ger ˈbaj-ər 

: any of several sturdy burrowing flesh-eating mammals widely distributed in the northern hemisphere

also : the pelt or fur of a badger

badger

2 of 2 verb

badgered; badgering

ˈbaj-(ə-)riŋ

: to annoy again and again