nuisance
noun
Simple meaning
A minor annoyance or inconvenience.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
noosuhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnusəns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A minor annoyance or inconvenience.
A person or thing causing annoyance or inconvenience.
law
Anything harmful or offensive to the community or to a member of it, for which a legal remedy exists.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A minor annoyance or inconvenience.
Used this way, nuisance is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Nearby words
- botheration , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use nuisance
- “The loud music from next door was becoming a real nuisance.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The removal or termination or destruction of something that has been found to be a nuisance.
A tax based on the cost of the item purchased and collected directly from the buyer.
The quality of an embarrassing situation.
Anything on your premises that might attract children into danger or harm.
A nuisance that unreasonably interferes with a right that is common to the general public.
A nuisance that is both a public nuisance and a private nuisance at the same time.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “nuisance” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.