pick on

meterse con, acosar

Tratar mal a alguien repetidamente, especialmente criticándolo o burlándose de él.

En inglés sencillo: To repeatedly treat someone unkindly, especially by criticizing them or making fun of them.

• Stop picking on your sister.
• Some children picked on him because of his glasses.
• Why does the boss always pick on me?

Cómo se usa: pick on someone (The older boys kept picking on him.)

Sinónimos: bully, harass, tease

Expresiones frecuentes: pick on someone, pick on younger children

elegir, escoger

Elegir a alguien para hacer algo, a menudo aunque preferiría no hacerlo.

En inglés sencillo: To choose someone to do something, often when they would rather not do it.

• The teacher picked on me to answer.
• She picked on Leo to carry the boxes.
• Why do you always pick on me for these jobs?

Cómo se usa: pick on someone to do something (The teacher picked on me to read aloud.); pick on someone for something (They picked on Sam for the difficult job.)

Sinónimos: choose, select, single out

Expresiones frecuentes: pick on someone, pick on a student