Definition

1. Verb:
   • To importune; to pester; to bother persistently: To repeatedly disturb, trouble, or annoy someone with requests, demands, or actions, often to the point of causing significant irritation or inconvenience.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Công ty đó thường xuyên phiền nhiễu khách hàng bằng các cuộc gọi quảng cáo. (That company often importunes customers with promotional calls.)
  • Anh ấy không muốn phiền nhiễu đồng nghiệp với những vấn đề cá nhân của mình. (He doesn't want to pester his colleagues with his personal problems.)
  • Một số thủ tục hành chính phiền nhiễu đã được bãi bỏ. (Some bothersome administrative procedures have been abolished.)

Advanced Usage

• "Phiền nhiễu" often implies a repeated, ongoing, or systematic action that causes trouble, rather than a single, minor annoyance. It can describe bureaucratic hassles, persistent demands, or intrusive behavior.
  • Cảnh sát cảnh báo về những kẻ lạ mặt chuyên đi phiền nhiễu người già sống một mình. (Police warned about strangers who specialize in importuning elderly people living alone.)

Variants and Related Words

• Phiền (verb/adjective): To bother; to trouble; bothered; troubled. (A more general term for causing or feeling annoyance or trouble.)
  • Xin lỗi đã làm phiền bạn. (Sorry to bother you.)
• Quấy rầy (verb): To disturb; to harass. (Often used for disturbances causing a nuisance, sometimes legally.)
  • Hành vi quấy rầy hàng xóm là không thể chấp nhận. (The behavior of harassing neighbors is unacceptable.)
• Làm phiền (verb phrase): To bother; to trouble. (A common phrase for "to bother".)
  • Tôi không muốn làm phiền anh lúc này. (I don't want to bother you right now.)

Synonyms

• Gây phiền toái: To cause inconvenience/trouble.
• Làm rầy: To pester; to bother (less common).
• Quấy nhiễu: To harass; to pester (similar, with a nuance of disturbance).

Related Phrases / Idioms

• Phiền hà, phiền phức: These are common adjectival forms meaning "troublesome", "inconvenient", or "complicated".
  • Thủ tục quá phiền hà. (The procedure is too troublesome.)
• While "phiền nhiễu" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, actions described by it are central to expressions like:
  • Gây phiền nhiễu cho dân chúng: To importune/bother the public.

verb

1. to importune