{
    "term": "bother",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "bother",
            "heSheIt": "bothers"
        },
        "pastSimple": "bothered",
        "pastParticiple": "bothered",
        "ingForm": "bothering"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to spend time and/or energy doing something",
            "sensetop": "bother with/about somethingbother to do somethingbother doing something",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "‘Shall I wait?’ ‘No, don't bother’."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I don't know why I bother! Nobody ever listens!"
                },
                {
                    "text": "If that’s all the thanks I get, I won’t bother in future!"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It's not worth bothering with *(= using)* an umbrella—the car's just outside.",
                    "contextForm": "bother with/about something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I don't know why you bother with that crowd *(= why you spend time with them)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He doesn’t bother much about his appearance."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He didn't even bother to let me know he was coming.",
                    "contextForm": "bother to do something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He hadn't even bothered to read the crucial documents."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Doctors never bothered to check his blood pressure."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Why bother asking if you're not really interested?",
                    "contextForm": "bother doing something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I didn't bother trying to explain my feelings."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to annoy, worry or upset somebody; to cause somebody trouble or pain",
            "sensetop": "bother somebodybother somebody with somethingbother somebody that…it bothers somebody to do something",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The thing that bothers me is…",
                    "contextForm": "bother somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "That sprained ankle is still bothering her *(= hurting)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She has been bothered by a leg injury."
                },
                {
                    "text": "‘I'm sorry he was so rude to you.’ ‘It doesn't bother me.’"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I don't want to bother her with my problems at the moment.",
                    "contextForm": "bother somebody with something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Does it bother you that she earns more than you?",
                    "contextForm": "bother somebody that…"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It bothers me to think of her alone in that big house.",
                    "contextForm": "it bothers somebody to do something"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "to interrupt somebody; to talk to somebody when they do not want to talk to you",
            "sensetop": "bother somebody",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Stop bothering me when I'm working.",
                    "contextForm": "bother somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Let me know if he bothers you again."
                },
                {
                    "text": "**Sorry to bother you**, but there's a call for you on line two."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Please stop bothering me with all these questions!"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to think that somebody/something is important",
            "labels": "(especially British English, informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I'm not bothered about what he thinks."
                },
                {
                    "text": "‘Where shall we eat?’ ‘I'm not bothered.’ *(= I don't mind where we go.)*"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to say that you do not want to spend time and/or energy doing something",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I should really do some work this weekend but I can't be bothered."
                },
                {
                    "text": "All this has happened because you couldn't be bothered to give me the message."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "in a state of worry or stress because you are under too much pressure, have a problem, are trying to hurry, etc.",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to not spend time/effort on something, because it is not important or you are not interested in it",
            "labels": "(especially British English)",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɒðə(r)/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bother__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɒðəz/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bothers__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɒðəd/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bothered__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɒðərɪŋ/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bothering__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɑːðər/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bother__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɑːðərz/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bothers__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɑːðərd/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bothered__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈbɑːðərɪŋ/",
                "audio": "bo/bother/bothering__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late 17th cent. (as a noun in the dialect sense ‘noise, chatter’): of Anglo-Irish origin; probably related to Irish bodhaire ‘noise’, bodhraim ‘deafen, annoy’. The verb (originally dialect) meant ‘confuse with noise’ in the early 18th cent."
}