What's the difference between bother and pester?

Bother


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To annoy; to trouble; to worry; to perplex. See Pother.
  • (v. i.) To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.
  • (n.) One who, or that which, bothers; state of perplexity or annoyance; embarrassment; worry; disturbance; petty trouble; as, to be in a bother.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Why bother to put the investigators, prosecutors, judge, jury and me through this if one person can set justice aside, with the swipe of a pen.
  • (2) Unless you are part of some Unite-esque scheme to join up as part of a grand revolutionary plan, why would you bother shelling out for a membership card?
  • (3) Dinner is the usual “international” menu that few will bother with given the wealth of choice nearby.
  • (4) Despite excellent control of acute-stage emesis, some patients are still bothered by delayed emesis occurring more than 24 hours after cisplatin administration.
  • (5) Given this bipartisan strategy to minimise commitments, there is little wonder that voter turnout also reached a historical low, with less than two thirds bothering to vote in the east.
  • (6) I do think it is set fair but I am more bothered about the eurozone.
  • (7) These were: urinary symptoms, degree of bother due to urinary symptoms, BPH-specific interference with activities, general psychological well-being, worries and concerns, and sexual satisfaction.
  • (8) Interactive guide Election countdown: the key dates up to June 7 Interactive quizzes Can you be bothered?
  • (9) TV's Jeremy Paxman didn't even bother hiding his disdain for the introduction of weather reports to Newsnight – "It's April.
  • (10) And indeed both E.ON and SSE offer these for those who bother to switch,” he added.
  • (11) After the first couple days like everyone was like: 'Ah, I can't be bothered.
  • (12) Had they bothered to inquire of a veteran from the ranks, they might have heard how exasperating it is to see the dainty long-range patriots of Labour thrashing it out with the staunch gutter jingoists of the Conservative party – and barely a non-commissioned vet among them.
  • (13) I have been noticing, with sadness, that politicians do not even bother invoking the American Dream anymore.
  • (14) "No one ever bothered him at the suppers," former pastor Bob Moyer of Hartland told the paper.
  • (15) Refusing to play in the Seven Kingdoms league, the all black kit helps the team in matches against Wildling FC, who never bother to wear the same colours.
  • (16) No one else need bother to paint them as a ramshackle and rancorous rabble marooned in the past and without a plausible account of the future.
  • (17) With the coming of the meritocracy, the now leaderless masses were partially disfranchised; as time has gone by, more and more of them have been disengaged, and disaffected to the extent of not even bothering to vote.
  • (18) A cursory web search would have helped but fewer of us bother when the news is relatively inconsequential.
  • (19) What bothers me is that a club would contact the manager of a national team without first notifying the Federation.
  • (20) Arsenal responded in the only way they know, with Ramsey, Mesut Özil, Jack Wilshere and Oxlade-Chamberlain all involved in intricate passing patterns on the edge of the area, though there was no end product to bother Tim Howard apart from another long shot from Oxlade-Chamberlain that drifted wide.

Pester


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To trouble; to disturb; to annoy; to harass with petty vexations.
  • (v. t.) To crowd together in an annoying way; to overcrowd; to infest.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The creation of Albion’s second goal was more artful, even if it started with Özil being pestered into surrendering possession near halfway.
  • (2) It was Tim, an archivist from Warners whom I had been pestering for years about trying to track down some long-lost film footage.
  • (3) They should not pressure children or pester parents to buy products, and promotional offers should be used with a "due sense of responsibility".
  • (4) The allegations are sure to concern many parents whose children are pestering them to buy the extensive range of Cars 2 toys launched to coincide with the movie, which hit UK cinema screens in July.
  • (5) Professional irritant Kenny Miller wins a corner down the right, with some incessant pestering.
  • (6) For a year I have been pestered with: "X has got Facebook.
  • (7) He kept pestering her, phoning and phoning and phoning her."
  • (8) But while the Christians are still pestering God, the end-of-daysers awaiting Armageddon, and the Aryan brothers proving the least convincing imaginable argument for the superiority of their race, things have changed quite drastically in porn, which has been even more vulnerable than cinema, TV or music to the predations of the internet.
  • (9) Kala-azar (KA), an enigmatic disease has resurged in India since 1970's after about a lull of 20 years, displaying its pestering nature.
  • (10) The band became pally with him and pestered for a support slot when his Black Pus project (another great name) came to town.
  • (11) After a bit of good-natured pestering, she agrees to sell all of us one drink so we can discuss the heady topic of race in America while slightly intoxicated.
  • (12) Artists don't stand next to their artwork in galleries pestering the public to part with their pound coins.
  • (13) For now he is determined to stick with his work in the building industry, despite his workmates pestering him for the odd Victoria sponge or carrot cake.
  • (14) Nine hours working as an exterminator takes a physical toll on the 45-year-old , who didn’t go to college, makes $33,000 a year, and relies on a steady swarm of pests to pester people in his 90% rural county.
  • (15) The new boss, Paul Pester, whose £1.6m outstanding bonuses from Lloyds are to be transferred to TSB, is also aiming for growth in current accounts, where it has only 4.2% market share despite having some 6% of high street branches.
  • (16) There are some innovative ideas about, he says, on ways of teaching children in school to wash their hands – in the hope that they will then go home and pester their parents to do the same.
  • (17) Joleon Lescott, who endured a torrid debut for Villa, and Micah Richards were pestered into errors in the opening minutes and the latter was especially relieved that Danny Drinkwater’s shot from 25 yards flew over the bar.
  • (18) Paul Pester, chief executive of TSB, said the branches that were closing were within 500 metres of another TSB branch and were part of the estate it inherited when it was carved out of Lloyds Banking Group last year.
  • (19) Pester said the bank had achieved its target of winning more than 6% of all new current accounts and those being switched between banks.
  • (20) Pester added that, of the 631 branches TSB started with, there were 15 locations where two or three branches were “within spitting distance of each other”.