Other forms: molested, molesting, molests
To molest is to interfere with somebody, especially sexually. Charged with molesting, molested as a child, child molester.
In modern use it is nearly always sexual and refers to a serious offence, particularly against children. The older sense is simply to trouble or annoy, and it survives in legal wording and in some other languages — French molester and Spanish molestar still mean to bother. That divergence is worth knowing, since the words look identical and are not. Note molestation.
1verbmolestTo interfere with somebody, especially sexually.
“The man was arrested for molesting a woman on the crowded train.”
2verbtroubleTo trouble or annoy, in older use.
“The old sign on the gate warned that anyone who molested the swans would be fined.”
molest is an interfering.
Latin molestare comes from molestus, troublesome, from moles, a burden. French molester and Spanish molestar keep the mild sense English has lost.
Latin
molestō — to trouble, annoy, molest
Old French
molester
Middle English
molesten
English, today
molest
Built from
From Middle English molesten, from Old French molester, from Latin molestō (“to trouble, annoy, molest”), from molestus (“troublesome”), from moles (“a burden, difficulty, labor, trouble”); see mole.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA