harass
v.v. to annoy or upset someone by repeatedly bothering them or being aggressive. You use this when someone makes another person feel uncomfortable or unsafe over a long period.
v. to subject someone to aggressive pressure or intimidation through persistent and unwanted actions. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the person or group being targeted.
He was arrested for trying to harass his neighbors.
The company implemented a strict policy to ensure that no employee would harass their colleagues in the workplace.
Legal experts argued that the defendant's repeated phone calls and unwanted messages constituted a clear attempt to harass the witness before the trial began.
The verb is derived from Middle French, Old French harasser (“to exhaust, tire out, wear out; to harry, torment, vex”) (modern French harasser (“to exhaust, tire out, wear out”)), possibly from Old French harer (“to set a dog on”), from Frankish hara (“here, hither”) (a command for a dog to attack), from Proto-Germanic hē₂r (“here, in this place”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱe (“here; this”) + ís (“the (person or thing just named)”) + *-r. The noun is derived from the verb.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. Often used in the passive voice ('to be harassed').
He harassed to her.He harassed her.Harass is a transitive verb and does not take the preposition 'to' before the object.