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Annoying is an adjective that’s used to describe someone or something that annoys you—bothers or irritates you.

The word implies that the resulting irritation does not rise to the level of serious harm or a major problem—even if someone or something is extremely annoying.

People who are annoying are usually engaging in some kind of irritating and unwanted behavior (especially when it’s repeated), such as chewing too loudly or asking you the same question over and over again. Things that are annoying are often those that distract, interrupt, or intrude on what you’re trying to do, like a noise that keeps waking you up when you’re trying to fall asleep or a pop-up ad.

Someone or something that’s annoying can be called an annoyance. The adjective annoyed is used to describe someone who is bothered in this way.

Example: Mom, Jeff is being so annoying! He keeps humming!

The first records of the word annoying as an adjective come from the 1300s. Its base word, annoy, comes from the Old French anoier, meaning “to tire” or “to harm.” This term derived from the Late Latin verb ���Դǻ徱�����, which means “to cause aversion” and itself comes from the Latin phrase mihi in odiō est, meaning “I dislike.”

People and things that are annoying are doing something that you dislike—something that bothers you. Still, it’s usually something minor and not truly harmful. Annoying has a lot of synonyms that can be used in all kinds of annoying situations, including irritating, bothersome, aggravating, vexatious, irksome, exasperating.

What are some other forms related to annoying?

• annoy (verb)

What are some synonyms for annoying?

• irritating
• bothersome
• aggravating
• vexatious
• irksome
• exasperating

What are some words that share a root or word element with annoying?��

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• annoyance
• ennui
• odium
• noisome

What are some words that often get used in discussing annoying?

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• noise
• behavior
• brother
• sister
• neighbor
• customer

Annoying is a very common word that can be used in all kinds of contexts. It’s always used negatively.

The most annoying part about moving is changing your address on EVERYTHING. So annoying 🤦🏽‍♀️

— Ashley (@Aharmony_92)

flickering lights are very annoying

— Ballerina Queen (@Ballerina0102)

Overthinking absolutely everything is what I find most annoying about myself. How do you turn off your thoughts?

— Resident Weirdo (@jaleesha_b)

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Which of the following words is a synonym of annoying?

A. bothersome
B. irksome
C. aggravating
D. all of the above

When something is annoying, it is irritating, bothersome, vexing, exasperating, or any of the many other English words describing things that cause annoyance. But would you call that same thing odious, that is, “hateful” or “disgusting”? Calling something that is merely annoying odious might be a little extreme, but etymologically speaking, it’s no stretch.

The adjective annoying, recorded in English around 1325–75, is based on the even older verb annoy. (See our entry at -ing for the nitty-gritty on that word element.) Annoy entered English around 1250–1300, borrowed from the French anoier, among other forms, and meaning “to molest, harm, tire.” This French verb is derived from the Late Latin ���Դǻ徱�����, “to cause aversion.”

The Latin verb ���Դǻ徱����� developed from the expression mihi in odiō est, meaning “I dislike.” A literal translation of this expression is “it is in hatred to me,” with in odiō meaning “in hatred.” ���徱ō is a form of odium, a word directly borrowed into English and meaning “dislike, aversion, hatred,” among other senses. An adjective form of odium in Latin was �ǻ徱ō���ܲ�, source of the English odious. And that’s how annoying is connected to odious.

Dig deeper

Another word related to annoying is noisome. Noisome is a tricky word because it looks similar to noisy, but the two do not share a common origin. Noisome means “offensive or disgusting, as an odor” or “harmful or injurious to health; noxious.”

Found in English around 1350–1400, noisome is based on the Middle English noy, a variant of annoy. The second part of the word, –some, was once a very productive English suffix used to form adjectives, as in one of the synonyms for annoying we noted above: bothersome. Can you think of other words that feature the suffix –some?

Have ever been so bored that it downright annoyed you? You may have experienced ennui. While feeling ennui is no fun, ennui is a great word—and, as we trust you already know, learning new words is a great way to cure ennui.

Ennui means “a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest”—or more generally, “boredom.” Ennui was borrowed directly into English from French, in turn from the same Latin roots as annoy.