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molestation

UK/mɒlɪˈsteɪʃən/US/ˌmoʊlɪˈsteɪʃən/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,600 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: molestations

Molestation is unwanted sexual interference with somebody. Charged with molestation, child molestation, a molestation case.

In current use the word is almost entirely about sexual offences, particularly against children. The older sense was simply annoyance or harassment, which survives in the legal phrase without let or molestation.

Definitions of molestation

  1. 1nounmolestationUnwanted sexual interference with somebody.B2+

    “The priest was jailed for the molestation of children in his care.”

molestation is an offence.

Where it comes from

Latin molestatio comes from molestare, to trouble, from molestus, troublesome.

  1. Latin

    molestatio

  2. Old French

    molestacion

  3. English, today

    molestation

From Old French molestacion, from Latin molestatio. by surface analysis, molest + -ation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

molestation in the wild

  • In 1996, Gajdusek was charged with child molestation, and spent 12 months in prison after being convicted.

    Daniel Carleton Gajdusek

  • The Ruchika Girhotra case involves the molestation of 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra in 1990 by the Inspector General of Police Shambu (S.P.S.

    Ruchika Girhotra case

  • Recently, the Supreme Court of India upheld Rathore's conviction in molestation case but restricted the punishment to six months' jail already served by him considering his age.

    Ruchika Girhotra case

  • The film features footage of the beginning of The Jackson 5, Jackson's solo career and the child molestation accusations made against him.

    Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon

  • A non-molestation order is, in English law, a type of injunction that may be sought by a victim of domestic abuse against their abuser.

    Non-molestation order

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • molest