Dictionary Definition
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]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -ɔɪ
Verb
- To disturb or
irritate, especially by
continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.
- Marc loved his sister, but when she annoyed him he wanted to switch her off.
- To do something to upset or anger someone; to be troublesome.
- Connie liked to annoy her brother by using him as a leg rest.
- To molest; to harm; to injure.
Translations
to disturb or irritate
- Chinese: 懊惱, 懊恼 (àonǎo)
- Dutch: ergeren, vervelen
- Ewe: do dziku
- Finnish: ärsyttää
- French: gêner
- German: stören
- Greek: ενοχλήσει (enokhlísi)
- Hungarian: baszogatni (vulgar)
- Icelandic: trufla
- Ido: jenar
- Italian: infastidirsi
- Old English: ābelġan
- Portuguese: irritar
- Russian: надоедать (nadojedát’), надоесть (nadojést’)
- Spanish: molestar, agobiar
To do something to upset or anger someone
To molest; to harm; to injure
Noun
- A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes.
- That which causes such a feeling.
Synonyms
- (both senses) annoyance
Translations
A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by
what one dislikes
- Finnish: ärtymys
That which causes such a feeling
References
Extensive Definition
Annoyance (also called pother) is an unpleasant
mental state that is characterized by such effects as irritation
and distraction from one's conscious thinking. It can lead
to emotions such as
frustration and
anger. The property of
being easily annoyed is called petulance.
Etymology
"Annoy" (like the French ennui, a word traced by etymologists to a Latin phrase, in odio esse, to be "in hatred" or hateful of someone), to vex or affect with irritation. In the sense of "nuisance," the noun "annoyance" is found in the English "Jury of Annoyance" appointed by an act of 1754 to report upon obstructions in the highways.Psychology
Various reasons exist for why one finds particular stimuli annoying. Measurement of annoyance is highly subjective. As an attempt at measurement, psychological studies on annoyance often rely on their subjects' own ratings of levels of annoyance on a scale.Many stimuli that one is at first neutral to, or
even finds pleasant, can turn into annoyances from repeated
continued exposure. One can often encounter this phenomenon with
such media as popular
music, commercials, and advertising jingles, which by
their very nature are continually repeated over a period of weeks
or months.
A study published in the International Journal of
Conflict Management found that one's response to an annoyance, at
least when the perceived cause is another person, escalate to more
extreme levels as they go unresolved. It also found that one was
more likely to blame the party who was causing the annoyance in the
study, rather than one's self, for the annoyance as it
escalated.
Psychological warfare can involve creating
annoyances to distract and wear down the resistance of the target.
For example, in 1993 the FBI played music
"specifically selected for its irritation ability" on loudspeakers
outside the Branch
Davidian church in Waco, Texas
in an attempt to bring about the surrender of David Koresh
and his followers.
Effects
Annoyance can cause stress, leading to high blood pressure.Annoyance in United States law
The Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 made the communication of anything "indecent with the intent to annoy" a felony punishable by a fine and up to two-year imprisonment. President Bill Clinton signed the CDA into law after it was passed by Congress in February 1996.In many comedic double acts
humor comes from the annoyance that the comic's actions create for
the comic
foil. An act may also feature a person dealing violently with
the annoying other (such as Punch and
Judy)
Software
Annoyances are used to measure how well a software program conforms to (or competes against) user expectations about how a particular feature or package should work. Individual annoyances are routinely archived and catalogued by users and reviewers. Such archives often include "annoyance busters" or "workarounds" that can be used to resolve or ameliorate the irritating effects. For top-selling software titles, archives of annoyances and workarounds are often published.See also
References
annoy in Czech: Afekt
annoy in German: Ärger
annoy in Dutch: Verdriet
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abrade,
agent provocateur, aggravate, agitate, amplify, arouse, augment, awake, awaken, badger, bait, be at, bedevil, beleaguer, beset, blow the coals, blow up,
bother, bristle, brown off, bug, build up, bullyrag, burn up, call forth,
call up, chafe, chivy, deepen, deteriorate, devil, discompose, distemper, distress, disturb, dog, embitter, enhance, enkindle, enlarge, enrage, exacerbate, exasperate, excite, exercise, fan, fan the fire, fan the flame,
fash, feed the fire,
fire, flame, foment, frenzy, fret, gall, get, get at, gnaw, gripe, harass, harry, hassle, heat, heat up, heckle, hector, heighten, hot up, hound, huff, impassion, incense, incite, increase, inflame, infuriate, intensify, irk, irritate, key up, kindle, lather up, light the
fuse, light up, madden,
magnify, make acute,
make worse, miff, molest, move, nag, needle, nettle, nudzh, overexcite, peeve, persecute, perturb, pester, pick on, pique, plague, pluck the beard, pother, provoke, rankle, ride, rile, roil, rouse, rub, ruffle, set astir, set fire to,
set on fire, set up, sharpen, sour, steam up, stir, stir the blood, stir the
embers, stir the feelings, stir up, summon up, tease, torment, trouble, try the patience, turn
on, tweak the nose, upset,
vex, wake, wake up, waken, warm, warm the blood, whip up, work
into, work up, worry,
worsen