nag

«nag» in Mova's school dictionary: To keep asking or telling someone to do something in an… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (nag, nags, nagged, nagging); noun (a nag, nags)

meaning for a pupil

1) To keep asking or telling someone to do something in an annoying way. tree →

2) To keep worrying or hurting you a little: a nagging doubt, a nagging pain. tree →

3) (noun, informal) A person who nags. tree →

4) (noun, informal) An old or weak horse. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life children say parents «nag» them about homework or tidying up. In stories a «nagging feeling» tells the reader that a character suspects something is wrong. Phrases: nag someone to do something, nag at, a nagging feeling, a nagging cough.

examples

• Mum keeps nagging me to tidy my room. tree →
• Stop nagging! I'll do it in a minute. tree →
• I had a nagging feeling I'd forgotten something. tree →
• He had a nagging cough for weeks. tree →
• My sister nagged Dad until he bought ice cream. tree →
• The farmer's old nag could barely pull the cart. tree →
• Don't be such a nag. tree →
• A nagging thought kept me awake. tree →

note

Verb doubles the g: nagged, nagging. Adjective: nagging. «Nag» as a horse is informal and a bit unkind. Similar: pester, badger, go on at (UK).

In the corpora

• A chore chart lists the household jobs and who does each one, so work is shared fairly and nobody has to nag.
• A calm, polite request with good reasons is more likely to be listened to than nagging or sneaking.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «nag» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.