chagrining

English

Verb

chagrining

1. present participle of chagrin

Adjective

chagrining (comparative more chagrining, superlative most chagrining)

1. Annoying, vexing.
   • 1780, George Washington, Letter to the President of Congress, in Jared Sparks (ed.), The Writings of George Washington, New York: Harper, 1847, Volume 7, pp. 11-12,^[1]

     Nothing can be conceived more chagrining, than for an officer to see himself destitute of every necessary, while another, not only in the service of the same government, engaged in defending the same cause, but even in the same regiment, and sometimes standing by his side in the same company, is decently if not amply provided.

   • 1789, Robert Burns, Letter to Frances Anna Dunlop, dated January 1789, in William Wallace (ed.), Robert Burns and Mrs. Dunlop, New York: Dodd, Mead, 1898, Volume I, p. 201,^[2]

     No ill-weather in Hay or Harvest ever gave me so chagrining a disappointment.

   • 1941, Elizabeth Bowen, “No. 16” in The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen, New York: Knopf, 1981, p. 553,^[3]

     Mrs Bewdon’s kindness to Jane was profoundly chagrining.

   • 1987, Thomas Berger, Being Invisible, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 10, p. 207,^[4]

     It was chagrining to Wagner that though only his fingertips were visible below the jacket’s sleeves and he could have put another of himself into the chest and shoulders, the waist was not all that voluminous, even given his current underweight.