What is the word for “nuisance” as an adjective?

Question

Can anyone propose an adjective of nuisance? Or a word that can be used to communicate that sense?

The place where I want to use the word is as follows. I am talking about when children are abused and ignored by parents (as a result of high population and no family planning) and the children grow up to become not-so-constructive citizens, such as thieves and petty criminals.

What could be the word for such an outcome? Also, what is an adjective for nuisance?

Answer 1

In your example, you could say:

. . . the children become delinquents.

or

. . . the children become delinquent citizens.

From NOAD:

delinquent |dəˈlɪŋkwənt| adjective (typically of a young person or that person's behavior) showing or characterized by a tendency to commit crime, particularly minor crime : delinquent children.

Answer 2

The most common adjective for something/someone that's [being] a nuisance is annoying.

In very general terms, a nuisance is something that annoys

(The link is to a "legally-oriented" website answering the question "What is a Nuisance?").

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I don't think describing psychologically damaged individuals as a "nuisance" is particularly constructive, and most people probably wouldn't say crackheads in Central Park, nationwide paedophile rings, psychopaths, etc. are "annoying".

But you might say it was annoying if someone's kid on the restaurant table next to you was playing a bleeping electronic game, and the parents were ignoring it. I've just answered the question about the normal verb/adjective/adverb for nuisances - they annoy, it's annoying, they do it annoyingly.

Answer 3

Troublesome works well.

The children grow up to become quite troublesome citizens, such as thieves and petty criminals.

Answer 4

Nuisance itself occurs as an adjective as well as a noun. Here's one relevant citation from the OED:

She takes to the streets daily in response to calls from tenants to investigate nuisance neighbours.