annoy
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Middle English annoien, anoien, enoien, from Anglo-Norman anuier, Old French enuier (“to molest, harm, tire”), from Late Latin inodiō (“cause aversion, make hateful”, vb.), from the phrase in odiō (“hated”), from Latin odium (“hatred”). Displaced native Middle English grillen (“to annoy, irritate”), from Old English grillan (see grill).
Verb [edit]
annoy (third-person singular simple present annoys, present participle annoying, simple past and past participle annoyed)
- (transitive) To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.
- Marc loved his sister, but when she annoyed him he wanted to switch her off.
- (intransitive) To do something to upset or anger someone; to be troublesome.
- Connie liked to annoy her brother by using him as a leg rest.
- (transitive) To molest; to harm; to injure.
Synonyms [edit]
Antonyms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to disturb or irritate
to do something to upset or anger someone
to molest; to harm; to injure
Noun [edit]
annoy (plural annoys)
- (now rare, literary) A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes.
- 1532 (first printing), Geoffrey Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose:
- I merveyle me wonder faste / How ony man may lyve or laste / In such peyne and such brennyng, / [...] In such annoy contynuely.
- 1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sciety and Solitude:
- if she says he was defeated, why he had better a great deal have been defeated, than give her a moment's annoy.
- 1532 (first printing), Geoffrey Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose:
- (now rare, literary) That which causes such a feeling.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, King Rchard III, IV.2:
- Sleepe in Peace, and wake in Ioy, / Good Angels guard thee from the Boares annoy [...].
- 1872, Robert Browning, "Fifine at the Fair, V:
- The home far and away, the distance where lives joy, / The cure, at once and ever, of world and world's annoy [...].
- 1594, William Shakespeare, King Rchard III, IV.2:
Synonyms [edit]
- (both senses) annoyance
Translations [edit]
A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes
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That which causes such a feeling
References [edit]
- annoy in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- annoy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
