molestar

Borrowed from Latin molestāre, from molestus (“troublesome”).

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencia)

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

molestar (first-person singular present molesto, first-person singular preterite molestí, past participle molestat); root stress: (Central, Valencia, Balearic) /e/

1. (transitive) to bother, annoy

   Synonym: empipar

2. to disturb
3. to hurt

molestar (first-person singular present molesto, first-person singular preterite molestei, past participle molestado)

1. to bother, annoy

Borrowing from English molest, Spanish molestar, Italian molestare, German molestieren and French molester.

• IPA^(key): /mo.lesˈtar/, /mo.leˈstar/

molestar (present tense molestas, past tense molestis, future tense molestos, imperative molestez, conditional molestus)

1. (transitive) to molest, to harass, to mistreat

    Conjugation of molestar

		present		past		future
infinitive		molestar		molestir		molestor
tense		molestas		molestis		molestos
conditional		molestus
imperative		molestez
adjective active participle		molestanta		molestinta		molestonta
adverbial active participle		molestante		molestinte		molestonte
nominal active participle	singular	molestanto		molestinto		molestonto
	plural	molestanti		molestinti		molestonti
adjective passive participle		molestata		molestita		molestota
adverbial passive participle		molestate		molestite		molestote
nominal passive participle	singular	molestato		molestito		molestoto
	plural	molestati		molestiti		molestoti

Learned borrowing from Latin molestāre, from molestus (“troublesome”).

molestar (first-person singular present molesto, first-person singular preterite molestei, past participle molestado)

1. to trouble; to bother; to annoy; to harass

   Synonym: incomodar

2. to molest (to abuse sexually)

From Latin molestāre, from molestus (“troublesome”).

• IPA^(key): /molesˈtaɾ/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: mo‧les‧tar

molestar (first-person singular present molesto, first-person singular preterite molesté, past participle molestado)

1. to bother, to disturb, to trouble, to impose, to inconvenience, to burden

   Synonyms: fastidiar, fregar, joder, jorobar

2. to annoy, to tease, to pester, to bug, to hassle
3. to upset, to discomfort
4. to mind (uses indirect object)
5. (intransitive) to intrude
6. (reflexive) to get upset
7. (reflexive) to bother (to, en)

• molestar is a false friend and does not have the sexual connotation of English "to molest". The phrase for that in Spanish could be abusar sexualmente depending on context.

• “molestar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10