To pester means to bother someone repeatedly with requests, questions, or complaints. When you pester your parents for a new bike, you keep asking over and over, even after they've said “maybe later” or “we'll see.” When a younger sibling pesters you while you're trying to read, they interrupt constantly, poking you or asking questions they've already asked three times.

Pestering involves repeated requests or interruptions that wear down someone's patience. A mosquito pesters you by buzzing around your ear again and again. A friend might pester you to play their favorite game when you've already explained that you want to do something else.

The word carries a sense of annoyance. If someone says “stop pestering me,” they mean the repeated requests or interruptions are wearing down their patience. While persistence can be admirable, pestering crosses a line into being genuinely bothersome. There's a difference between asking your teacher a thoughtful follow-up question and pestering them with the same question they've already answered clearly.