annoy

Syllables: an·noy/əˈnoɪ̯/

annoy verb: to disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.

Verb

annoy (third-person singular simple present annoys, present participle annoying, simple past and past participle annoyed)

(transitive) 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.
- Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, / This painted child of dirt that stinks and stings; / Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, / Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'r enjoys.1735, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot
Synonyms:

bother, irritate

Antonyms:

please
(archaic, transitive) To molest; to harm; to injure.
- to annoy an army by impeding its march, or by a cannonade
- tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them1644 December 2 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 23 November 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition...
Synonyms:

damage, wound, abuse, bewound, damnify, dere, do damage to, do for, do ill, do violence to

Noun

annoy (plural annoys)

(archaic, literary) A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes.
- VVe that ſuffer long anoy / Are contented vvith a thought / Through an idle fancie vvrought / O let my ioyes have ſome abiding.1606 (date written), [Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher], The Woman Hater. […], London: […] [Robert Raworth], and are to be sold by John Hodgets […], published 1607, →OCLC, Act III, scene i
- [I]f she says he was defeated, why he had better, a great deal, have been defeated, than give her a moment's annoy.1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Success”, in Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 272
(archaic, literary) That which causes such a feeling.
- Sleepe in Peace, and wake in Ioy, / Good Angels guard thee from the Boares annoy […]c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- The home far and away, the distance where lives joy, / The cure, at once and ever, of world and world's annoy; […]1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza 5, page 4

annoy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

annoy in Hindi

to disturb or irritate: चिढ़ाना ciṛhānā

annoy in Tamil

எரிச்சிலூட்டு, சினப்படுத்து, தொல்லையூட்டு, நச்சரி, அலைப்பு, தொல்லை

annoy in Urdu

to disturb or irritate: تَنْگ کَرْنا taṅg karnā, سَتانا satānā, چھیڑْنا cheṛnā

annoy in Bengali

to disturb or irritate: জ্বালাতন করা jalaton kora, সাতানো satano

More languagesFewer languages

annoy in Malayalam: ശല്യപ്പെടുത്തുക śalyappeṭuttuka
annoy in Kannada: ಕಾಡು kāḍu
annoy in Punjabi: نچانا nacāṇā
annoy in Sanskrit: बाधति bādhati
annoy in Nepali: तताउनु tatāunu
annoy in Tagalog: galitin
annoy in Arabic: أَزْعَجَ ʔazʕaja
annoy in Indonesian: menyakat, mengesalkan, mengganggu, melecehkan
annoy in Thai: รำคาญ ram-kaan
annoy in Vietnamese: làm phiền, quấy rầy

Examples of annoy in a sentence

Which not only compromises Bajoran security, but also... annoys us.1993, D.C. Fontana, Peter Allan Fields, “Dax”, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 1, episode 8, spoken by Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor):
That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
Say, what can more our tortured souls annoy / Than to behold, admire, and lose our joy?1691, Matthew Prior, Pastoral to Dr. Turner, Bishop of Ely:

All 31 example sentences with annoy

Synonyms of annoy

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of annoy

Forms of annoy

Verb
third-person singular present	annoys
present participle	annoying
past participle	annoyed
past	annoyed
Noun
plural	annoys

Past tense of annoy: annoyed

Origin of annoy

From Middle English anoyen, from Old French anoier (“to bother, disturb”), from Late Latin inodiāre (“to make loathsome”), derived from Latin odium (“loathing, hatred”). Displaced native Old English dreċċan, gremman.

From Middle English anoy, from Old French enui. Doublet of ennui.

Words formed from annoy

Words that rhyme with annoy

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about annoy

What does annoy mean?: Annoy means to disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.
What is annoy in Hindi?: Annoy in Hindi is चिढ़ाना (ciṛhānā). See Annoy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use annoy in a sentence?: Which not only compromises Bajoran security, but also... annoys us.
What part of speech is annoy?: Annoy can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce annoy?: Annoy is pronounced /əˈnoɪ̯/.
What is the past tense of annoy?: The past tense of annoy is annoyed.

Words near annoy in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: annoy (page history and authors); annoy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); نچانا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); तताउनु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-annoy.ogg.

Cite this entry: “annoy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/annoy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.