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29 results for: Nuisance

Dictionary Entries (7 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
nui·sance    Audio Help   [noo-suhns, nyoo-] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.an obnoxious or annoying person, thing, condition, practice, etc.: a monthly meeting that was more nuisance than pleasure.
2.Law. something offensive or annoying to individuals or to the community, esp. in violation of their legal rights.
[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME nu(i)sa(u)nce < AF, equiv. to nuis(er) to harm (≪ L nocére) + -ance -ance]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Thesaurus Entries
  Synonym Collection v1.1Cite This Source
Main Entry:  nuisance
Part of Speech:  noun
Synonyms:  annoyance, bane, bore, bother, burden, exasperation, headache, imposition, inconvenience, infliction, irritation, offense, pest, plague, problem, thorn
Source:  Synonym Collection v1.1
Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC.
  Roget's II: The New ThesaurusCite This Source
Main Entry:  annoyance
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  Something that annoys.
Synonyms:  aggravation, besetment, bother, irritant, irritation, peeve, plague, torment, vexation
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Encyclopedia Articles (18 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic EncyclopediaCite This Source


nuisance, in law, an act that, without legal justification, interferes with safety, comfort, or the use of property. A private nuisance (e.g., erecting a wall that shuts off a neighbor's light) is one that affects one or a few persons, while a public nuisance (e.g., conducting a disorderly house) affects many persons. In some cases the victim of a private nuisance may abate it (e.g., tear down the wall). Damages are available to a party who suffers from a private nuisance or who is especially injured by a public nuisance, and courts will issue injunctions against continuing nuisances. Since public nuisances are injurious to the community, they may be prosecuted as crimes. Nuisance is a flexible legal category. Thus, while a slaughterhouse is lawful in a manufacturing district, it may be a nuisance in a residential quarter. Activities, such as operating blast furnaces, once deemed nuisances, are now recognized as indispensable and lawful. 
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press




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