hassle

has·sle | \ ˈha-səl

Definition of hassle

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a heated often protracted argument : wrangle embroiling myself in a long, exasperating hassle with masons— S. J. Perelman

2 : a violent skirmish : fight

3a : a state of confusion : turmoil all hassle and hurly-burly— Ellery Queen

b : an annoying or troublesome concern avoid the hassle of filling out paperwork flight delays and other hassles of holiday travel too much of a hassle to bother with

hassle

verb

hassled; hassling\ ˈha-s(ə-)liŋ

Definition of hassle (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: argue, fight hassled with the umpire

transitive verb

: to annoy persistently or acutely : harass gets hassled by the cops

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about hassle

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Examples of hassle in a Sentence

Noun All this paperwork is a hassle. They've had to deal with flight delays and all of the other hassles of holiday travel. He got into a hassle with his landlord. Verb Other kids were always hassling her because she was overweight. I'm sick of being hassled by telemarketers. I don't have time to hassle with you about this! Just do what I tell you to do!

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The experience has traditionally been full of hassle with thousands of colors, confusing product lines, messy sampling, and a cumbersome customer journey that requires back-and-forth trips to the store. — Rachel King, Fortune, "The founder of paint supply startup Clare on how to use your brand as a social platform," 19 June 2020 While the automation can remove the hassle of manually opening specific network ports that different devices use to communicate, UPnP over the years has opened users to a variety of attacks. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "UPnP flaw exposes millions of network devices to attacks over the Internet," 11 June 2020 Everset had to hire extra employees in order to cater to a new genre of customer—affluent people who left New York for the suburbs and nearby rural enclaves and want a no-hassle furniture set delivered. — Kate Knibbs, Wired, "The Pandemic Is Transforming the Rental Economy," 8 June 2020 As with the standard version, this big two-blade mechanical uses a small plastic FliteLoc blade-retaining clip that is a hassle to deal with—but my complaints stop there. — Will Brantley, Field & Stream, "The Best New Broadheads of the Year," 5 June 2020 Items like bottled water, pet food and other bulky, non-perishable household staples have better prospects online, due to the hassle of lugging them out of stores. — Matthew Boyle, Bloomberg.com, "Americans, It Turns Out, Would Rather Visit a Store Than Buy Food Online," 3 June 2020 Orange countries must produce a negative COVID-19 test for entry into the Czech Republic, although the Czech can enter their countries without hassle. — Cailey Rizzo, Travel + Leisure, "Czech Republic Institutes Color-coded System for Reopening Borders," 2 June 2020 An onboard talkback mic allows communication between artists and the control room and a speaker switcher offers the ability to check your mixes between multiple sets of speakers without the hassle of plugs. — Popular Science, "Six pro audio interfaces for home recording," 28 Aug. 2019 When bees die from pesticide poisoning, their owners can contact the police, or there can be legal action, and this creates a lot of expense and hassle. — Ilya Khrennikov, Bloomberg.com, "How a Website Could Stop Billions of Russian Bees From Dying," 7 June 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Psychologist Max Wachtel says police impersonators hassling people about travel restrictions are similar to people who post social-media shaming photos of strangers violating personal-distance guidelines. — Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, "Fake cops are stopping drivers for violating coronavirus stay-at-home orders," 9 Apr. 2020 The incident escalated when Arbery began to question why Kanago was hassling him. — Sarah Midkiff, refinery29.com, "New Bodycam Video Shows Georgia Police Attempting To Tase Ahmaud Arbery In 2017," 19 May 2020 For his coach, Bill Mallory, who never stopped hassling him about leaving that diploma unclaimed. — Jon Blau, The Indianapolis Star, "Ernie Thompson keeps promise to Bill Mallory, gets diploma from IU at age 50," 17 May 2020 You should not be hassled for driving through the state. — Jeff Mcdonald, ExpressNews.com, "Reader Q&A: Can we legally drive home to Texas from out of state?," 1 May 2020 Brinkley-Cook encouraged her critics to put their energy toward something positive, instead of spending their time hassling her. — Erin Jensen, USA TODAY, "'I'm not gonna take it': Sailor Brinkley-Cook defends herself after backlash over N95 mask," 4 Apr. 2020 Eddie Jabbour, the creator of the KickMap, a subway app, told Berman that the M.T.A. had hassled him, too. — Raffi Khatchadourian, The New Yorker, "The M.T.A. vs. a D.I.Y. Cartographer," 24 Feb. 2020 On Monday, Trump slammed Democrats for hassling him with impeachment instead of helping him address the threat Iran poses to American interests. — Dominick Mastrangelo, Washington Examiner, "'They hate America': Mark Levin rips Democrats for criticizing Trump strike on Soleimani," 7 Jan. 2020 If all that wasn't hassle enough, sometimes these attackers are even providing technical support in decrypting files. — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, "A tale of two cities: Why ransomware will just get worse," 21 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hassle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.