nox-, noxi-, noc-, nui-, nec-

(Latin: harmful, to do harm; injury, injurious; hurt, damage)

nuisance (NOO suhns, NYOO suhns) (s) (noun), nuisances (pl)
1. Something that annoys, gives trouble, or bothers people: When Bill and Karen went to the theater, it was a real nuisance for them to stand in line so long before they could get their tickets.
2. Anything which is offensive or noxious: John's wife was complaining that the noise from the electric fan was a real nuisance!

Too often, weather forecasts presented on TV, or the radio, become nuisances because they are wrong.

3. An annoying or irritating person, practice, or thing: The excessively talkative student was a nuisance for the teacher and the rest of the class.

Ted considered all of the e-mails that he receives on his computer from unknown sources nothing more than nuisances; especially, those that claim he has become the beneficiary of thousands or millions of dollars!

4. Etymology: "injury, hurt, harm," from Anglo-French nusaunce, from Old French nuisance, from nuire, "to harm"; from Latin nocere, "to hurt".

The sense has softened over time, to "anything obnoxious to a community" (bad smells, pests, eyesores), in about 1661, then it became a "source of annoyance, something personally disagreeable"; from about 1831. The application to people was from about 1695.

Something or a person who causes trouble, annoyance, or inconvenience.
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obnoxious (adjective), more obnoxious, most obnoxious
1. Highly objectionable or offensive; odious: Mary's obnoxious behavior in the English class could be tolerated no longer; so, she was sent to the principal's office.
2. Annoying or objectionable due to being a showoff or attracting undue attention to oneself: Brian's little boy was an obnoxious little brat.
3. Etymology: from Latin obnoxius, "exposed to harm" was the original meaning of obnoxious in English, in the sixteenth century.

The current meaning dates from the seventeenth century, and came to develop its sense because of its association with noxious so that for a time it actually meant "harmful", as noxious does.

Very disagreeable or offensive.
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Very unpleasant or extremely objectionable.
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"Whatever people in general do not understand, they are always prepared to dislike; the incomprehensible is always the obnoxious."

—Letitia E. Landon, author (1802-1838)
obnoxiously (adverb), more obnoxiously, most obnoxiously
Relating to being very unpleasant or rude: Herald and his friends were obnoxiously arrogant as they continued to play very loud music during their party after midnight.
obnoxiousness
1. The quality of being hateful.
2. Odiousness; offensiveness: "The obnoxiousness of the law rendered the federal legislature unpopular."
3. Characterized by being very unpleasant or rude.
psychonoxious
1. Having an unfavorable effect on the emotional life and reactions mediated by higher levels of the central nervous system; may be endogenous or exogenous.
2. Denoting people or situations that elicit fear, pain, anxiety, or anger in an individual.
Quae nocent docent.
Things that hurt, teach.

Cross references of word families that are related directly, or indirectly, to: "wound, harm, hurt, injure": noci-; traumat-; vulner-.