bother vs persecute

bother

verb
  • To annoy, to disturb, to irritate. 

  • To do something which is of negligible inconvenience. 

  • To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome. 

noun
  • Fuss, ado. 

  • Trouble, inconvenience. 

intj
  • A mild expression of annoyance. 

persecute

verb
  • To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy. 

  • To kill many of one species of animal, with the intent of removing them from human habitats. 

  • To pursue in a manner to do harm or cruelty to; especially, because of the victim's race, sexual identity, or adherence to a particular belief. 

How often have the words bother and persecute occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )