badger.

1. To annoy or pressure someone persistently with repeated questions, demands, or requests.

2. A sturdy, short-legged, burrowing mammal with strong claws, usually belonging to the weasel family.

3. The fur or skin of a badger, used or described as a material.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• badger someone for an answer
• badger someone into agreeing
• badger someone with questions
• stop badgering me

On the page

Reporters badgered the director for an explanation long after the press conference ended.

He kept badgering her to reopen the discussion, although she had already said no.

“Stop badgering me,” she said, setting the unopened letter aside.

A badger emerged from the hedge and paused in the lane.

The muddy path was crossed by fresh badger tracks.

Usage notes

Transitive verb: badger, badgers, badgered, badgering; will badger. Patterns: badger someone for something; badger someone to do something; badger someone into doing something. Animal noun: a badger, badgers. Material noun: badger, normally uncountable. Neither the plural nor the verbal forms are separate entries. Register: neutral. Commonness: common as a verb and animal noun; fur-material use less common (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).