English Reference
Word adjective

annoying

adj.
US /əˈnɔɪɪŋ/ UK /ɐnˈɔɪɪŋ/ an·noy·ing
Definition
  1. 01 B1 Intermediate

    making you feel slightly angry, impatient, or bothered.

    causing a feeling of slight anger or irritation; troublesome or vexatious in nature.

    Simple

    “It is really annoying when the train is late and I miss my meeting.”

    In context

    “The most annoying aspect of the new software is the frequent pop-up notifications that interrupt my workflow every few minutes.”

    Pitfall
    I am very annoying with this loud music. I am very annoyed by this loud music.

    Use 'annoying' to describe the thing that causes the problem (the music). Use 'annoyed' to describe how you feel.

    Synonyms
    irritatingbothersomevexing
    Antonyms
    pleasantdelightfulsoothing
Don't confuse

annoying vs annoyed — Annoyed describes the person feeling the emotion, while annoying describes the thing or person causing it.

Etymology

From annoy + -ing.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B1 · Intermediate
Frequency Common
Updated