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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
annoy
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an annoying/unpleasant/nasty habit
▪ He had the unpleasant habit of eating with his mouth open.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
most
▪ Mark Andrews, for instance, was asked what was Adrian Garvey's most annoying habit.
▪ Probably most annoying was the opportunity grabbed by many celebrities to lash out at the tabloids and the paparazzi.
▪ It is most annoying to have unintelligible chattering somewhere behind you whilst watching the fish or beating the eggs.
Most annoying about the book is the pacing.
▪ Of all the Snow Freaks, it is the skiers who are the most annoying by far.
▪ Until recently, I was convinced that the most annoying musical instrument on earth was the accordion.
really
▪ I was really annoyed but she kept refusing.
▪ But the kids were really annoyed with it.
▪ For some reason this really annoyed her.
▪ And what really annoyed me was that he never drank and certainly didn't go a bundle on gambling.
▪ But the adverts that really annoy me are not so much the ones aimed at women but the ones aimed at men.
so
▪ She'd split up with her boyfriend and he was so annoyed he sent a tape he'd made to the press.
▪ I once worked at a partnership where management meetings were so annoying that the administrator had to bribe partners into attending.
very
▪ Also I could hear irony in his tone and I thought that for some reason he was very annoyed indeed.
▪ They never used any of their own culture, and I always found that very, very annoying.
▪ Inspector was very annoyed if you didn't say that you were aware of it when he read things out.
▪ He had been very annoyed at being left behind.
▪ We are very annoyed about this because the matter was closed.
▪ It can be very annoying when you are wanting to hurry, chasing the cattle up a hill or something.
▪ But Ed was very annoyed when Martinez negotiated the Supersight deal for Harley.
▪ I had a note from Malcolm Harris who was out front and was very annoyed about it.
■ VERB
become
▪ There is sometimes overlap, but never to an extent that it becomes annoying.
▪ Then he became something closer to annoyed.
▪ Once the pain persisted, it became annoying.
▪ Scientology is a cereal-box religion, and reading Ron is an idle diversion that quickly becomes annoying.
get
▪ Although it would be nice to see some one apart from Strach get annoyed on the pitch every now and then.
▪ I keep thinking about this and get more and more annoyed.
▪ That would get him annoyed and we d all end up fighting.
▪ Their combined din, after a few hours, got to be annoying.
▪ I shouted at Augie enough times to get him annoyed and angry too.
▪ And believe me, after a while all those little bumps and hills get annoying.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Are you doing that just to annoy me?
▪ Brian talks to me like a child, which really annoys me.
▪ I find it annoying when people eat smelly foods on public transport.
▪ It annoys me that Kim never returns the books she borrows.
▪ Jane's constant chatter was beginning to annoy me.
▪ The neighbor's kid walks across our lawn just to annoy us.
▪ The only reason she went out with Charles was to annoy her parents.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But even to be asked annoyed her.
▪ Gina was annoyed by his jogging, though, that was one comfort.
▪ His voice had a slight tremor, and that annoyed him, but they didn't seem to notice.
▪ Quite enough to annoy anybody, Nicandra thought.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Annoy

Annoy \An*noy"\ ([a^]n*noi"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Annoyed ([a^]n*noid"); p. pr. & vb. n. Annoying.] [OE. anoien, anuien, OF. anoier, anuier, F. ennuyer, fr. OF. anoi, anui, enui, annoyance, vexation, F. ennui. See Annoy, n.] To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to tease; to ruffle in mind; to vex; as, I was annoyed by his remarks.

Say, what can more our tortured souls annoy Than to behold, admire, and lose our joy?
--Prior.

2. To molest, incommode, or harm; as, to annoy an army by impeding its march, or by a cannonade.

Syn: To molest; vex; trouble; pester; embarrass; perplex; tease.

Annoy

Annoy \An*noy"\, n. [OE. anoi, anui, OF. anoi, anui, enui, fr. L. in odio hatred (esse alicui in odio, Cic.). See Ennui, Odium, Noisome, Noy.] A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes; also, whatever causes such a feeling; as, to work annoy.

Worse than Tantalus' is her annoy.
--Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
annoy

late 13c., from Anglo-French anuier, Old French enoiier, anuier "to weary, vex, anger; be troublesome or irksome to," from Late Latin inodiare "make loathsome," from Latin (esse) in odio "(it is to me) hateful," ablative of odium "hatred" (see odium). Earliest form of the word in English was as a noun, c.1200, "feeling of irritation, displeasure, distaste." Related: Annoyed; annoying; annoyingly. Middle English also had annoyful and annoyous (both late 14c.).

Wiktionary
annoy

n. 1 (context now rare literary English) A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes. 2 (context now rare literary English) That which causes such a feeling. vb. (context transitive English) To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.

WordNet
annoy

v. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves" [syn: rag, get to, bother, get at, irritate, rile, nark, nettle, gravel, vex, chafe, devil]

Usage examples of "annoy".

You are therefore aware now that my friend was a witness of all we did and said during the first night that we spent together, but do not let that annoy you, for you pleased him in everything, in your behaviour towards me as well as in the witty sayings which you uttered to make me laugh.

As if they had laid a plot to vex and annoy me, Clementine had made room for him.

She swore mentally at them, sure they were doing it on purpose to annoy her.

It merely sought to annoy us into leaving, so it could have our wounded.

I should not be sorry, I confess, to have to finish altogether with these marsh-birds, who annoy me with their cries.

I very much hope that you will regret yours, Mrs Mitchell, trying to humiliate my mother as a way to annoy me.

Hannah Mitchell wittering on about a letter from Canada, or Peter Murphy who wanted to have a cocktail party to annoy Geraldine.

Please remove the hemp to a place sufficiently distant from the house, so that its bad smell may not annoy the spirits to be evoked by me, and let the air be purified by the discharge of gunpowder.

In the evening we all went to a ball, and there the Corticelli, who was always trying to annoy me, danced as no young lady would dance.

I should only annoy the ladies and tire myself in waiting for some chance favour if I stayed, I bade them adieu and returned to Sulzbach the next morning.

Just now they are trying to annoy me with posters on the walls, but I take no notice.

He had managed to annoy everyone, provoking his sister Yllana, his foster-sister Alanna, and Ida Davidson, who was usually impervious to the behavior of adolescents.

Lew Alton asked with a kind of silky insolence that never failed to annoy Javanne.

She answered their anxious questions as to just when she would be coming back with a cheerfulness which wholly deceived them, begged them to be good children and do as Nanny told them and not to annoy their papa, and kissed them with a secret sorrow that it might be a long time, perhaps never, before she saw them again.

Truthfully, I had no idea whether the paper was really that damned interesting, or whether he was simply keeping me standing in order to try and annoy me.