Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To cause irritation to (another); make somewhat angry.
- transitive verb Archaic To harass or disturb by repeated attacks.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To be hateful or troublesome: followed by to.
- [By omission of reflexive pronoun.] To be troubled, disquieted, vexed.
- To be hateful, troublesome, or vexatious to; trouble, disquiet, disturb, vex, molest, harass, plague; irk, weary, bore, especially by repeated acts: as, to
annoy a person by perpetual questioning; to annoy the enemy by raids: in the passive, followed by at or about, formerly by of. - Synonyms Molest, Plague, etc. (see
tease ), trouble, disturb, disquiet, vex, irritate, fret, embarrass, perplex. - noun A disturbed state of feeling arising from displeasing acts or unpleasant circumstances; discomfort; vexation; trouble; annoyance.
- noun A thing or circumstance that causes discomfort; an annoyance.
- noun [Now chiefly poetic; the common word in prose is annoyance.]
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes; also, whatever causes such a feeling.
- transitive verb To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to tease; to ruffle in mind; to vex
- transitive verb To molest, incommode, or harm.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
disturb orirritate , especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds. - verb intransitive To do something to upset or anger someone; to be
troublesome . - verb transitive To
molest ; toharm ; toinjure . - noun literary A feeling of
discomfort orvexation caused by what one dislikes. - noun literary That which causes such a feeling.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Note that "annoy" is part of the intent element of the statute -- it requires the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass.
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The French word _ennui_, which now only means weariness of mind, signified formerly injury, and the vexation or hatred caused thereby; something like the English word "annoy," as in Shakespeare's Richard III., v. 3:
Sganarelle, or, the Self-Deceived Husband 1622-1673 Moli��re 1647
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Whether Mr. Colen's plan was to annoy is not clear, and this aspect of not knowing is an issue.
Noah Becker: Dan Colen at Gagosian Revisited Noah Becker 2010
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Whether Mr. Colen's plan was to annoy is not clear, and this aspect of not knowing is an issue.
Noah Becker: Dan Colen at Gagosian Revisited Noah Becker 2010
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Agnes Quill is the story of a teenage detective, the haunted city she lives in, the strange cases she solves, and the ghosts who help, hinder, or just plain annoy her.
Paramount to Adapt the Agnes Quill Graphic Novel | /Film 2008
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Serial killer plots (or subplots) just plain annoy me.
Great Things Come to Those Who Wait : The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas 2008
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"I beg your pardon, Robin, but I did not employ the word annoy," protested the Count.
The Prince of Graustark George Barr McCutcheon 1897
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I begged, and prayed, and appealed to his pity, but he would pull the book away from me, gabble bits of ballads in my ear as I was struggling with _Effectual Calling_, tip up the form on which I was seated, and, in short, annoy me in twenty different ways.
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood George MacDonald 1864
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s exhibition at Gagosian was meant to annoy is not clear.
Noah Becker: Dan Colen at Gagosian Revisited Noah Becker 2010
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I'm hoping their robocalls annoy people so much they will BADLY backfire.
In New McCain Robocall, Rudy Giuliani Suggests Obama Opposes Jailing Murderers And Rapists 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word annoy
"Today, the meaning of annoy is mild – 'vex, irritate'. But when the word first came into English from French in the fourteenth century, it had a much stronger sense – 'to be hateful or odious' to someone. By the time of the Civil War it had developed meanings of 'injure, harm', especially in a military context."
David Crystal, By Hook Or By Crook, p 214
December 20, 2008