bother

verb
bŏʹ-''th''ər

To annoy, to disturb, to irritate; to be troublesome to, to make trouble for.

Example

“Would it bother you if I smoked?”

Other meanings

To feel care or concern; to burden or inconvenience oneself out of concern.
“I never bother about such trivialities.”
To take the trouble, to trouble oneself (to do something).
“Why do I even bother to try?”

Synonyms

trouble

Related words

bother one's arse
bebother
be bothered
botheration
bothered
bothersome
father-bother merger
not a bother on someone
spot of bother
botherance
botherer
botherless

Example sentences

“It doesn't bother me either way.”
Tatoeba · AmarMecheri · CC0
“I don't bother centipedes and they don't bother me.”
Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0
“Don't bother turning it off.”
Tatoeba · ddnktr · CC0

Word history

From Scots "bauther".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “bother” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.