Introduction: Bullying highlights a current problem in the work's world and may interfere with the quality of provided assistance, as it impacts directly on harassed worker's health and interferes with their quality of life, their colleagues and the workflow. This social phenomenon can provide, as well, the absenteeism increase and productivity decrease. Objective: Understand the meanings assigned by the nurses experienced harassment in the workplace. Method: We decided to perform a qualitative research with approach of social phenomenology of Alfred Schütz. The inquiry region was composed of nine nurses from a private hospital in the city of São Paulo. The interviews were individual and the testimonials recorded, transcribed and analysed based on the theoretical assumptions of the theory of social action of Alfred Schütz. Results: Obtained data allow us to know and understand nurses experiences in relation to both the practice of bullying and their meanings (reasons why), how many the expectations that this social group has, regarding the need for transformation of this social reality (reasons for). The "reason why" highlight the way the nurses understand the bullying occurrence. This perception elucidated the harassment as an inherent practice in the nursing profession, caused by hierarchically superior professionals exposed to institutional pressure. The professional insecurity could also be a reason to practice of bulling. The "reasons for" converge to a hope that the truth be not obfuscated by the institution, colleagues and the personal service, so that guidelines and support to the victims of bullying be given. There is the longing for the construction of a concrete dialogue flow among nursing workers, who feel immersed in stressful situations in the workplace and get help of the Supervisory Board of professional activities, to support them in the fight against the occurrence of bullying. Final considerations: This study allowed us to understand the meanings attributed to bullying in nurses' experience. Reveals predisposing circumstances of this phenomenon and the expectations of the workers, to find special strategies in the workplace for this problematic, in order to enable transformations of this social reality, sometimes so damaging in interpersonal relations since it causes damage and suffering to the worker.