Harassment is repeated unwanted behaviour that makes work or life unbearable. Sexual harassment, racial harassment, a harassment claim.
The repetition is part of the definition: a single remark is usually not harassment, and a pattern is. In British law harassment is both a civil wrong and a criminal offence, and workplace harassment is covered separately by equality legislation. Stress is on the first syllable in British English, HARR-ass-ment, and on the second in American. Note harass, the verb, and harassed, meaning worn down by pressure.
1nounharassmentRepeated unwanted behaviour that makes life or work unbearable.
“The harassment went on for about two years before anybody acted.”
harassment is unwanted repeated behaviour.
French harasser meant to tire out or exhaust, possibly from a hunting cry. The word arrived meaning to wear somebody down by repeated attacks, which is exactly what the legal definition describes.
Middle French
harassement
English, today
harassment
Middle French harassement. by surface analysis, harass + -ment.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA