nuisance
/ˈnjuːs(ə)ns
/noun
1A person or thing causing inconvenience or annoyance: it’s a nuisance having all those people clomping through the house I hope you’re not going to make a nuisance of yourself...
- If the newcomers wanted to make a go of it here and did not make a nuisance of themselves, they could be Australians.
- They don't want to go along to annual general meetings and make a nuisance of themselves.
- In return, they don't secede or otherwise make a nuisance of themselves.
Synonyms
source of annoyance/irritation, annoyance, inconvenience, bore, bother, irritant, problem, difficulty, trouble, trial, burden;
pest, plague, thorn in one's side/flesh
informal pain, pain in the neck, pain in the backside, headache, hassle, bind, drag, aggravation, menace
Scottish informal nyaff, skelf
North American informal pain in the butt, nudnik, burr under/in someone's saddle
Australian informal fair cow
Australian/New Zealand informal nark
British vulgar slang pain in the arse
British informal, dated blister
rare infliction
1.1 Law An act which is harmful or offensive to the public or a member of it and for which there is a legal remedy. See also private nuisance, public nuisance.The courts tend to approach the question of the existence of a nuisance, whether public or private, as a question of fact....
- What constitutes a statutory nuisance is carefully defined in section 79 and so too are numerous exceptions.
- Picketing accompanied by violence, or even merely noise, may be a private nuisance.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'injury, hurt'): from Old French, 'hurt', from the verb nuire, from Latin nocere 'to harm'.
innocent from Middle English:
Literally meaning ‘not harming’, innocent goes back to Latin in- ‘not’ and nocere ‘to hurt, injure’, which also lies behind nuisance (Late Middle English), noxious (Late Middle English) ‘harmful’, its opposite innocuous (late 16th century), and obnoxious (late 16th century).