annoyance

/əˈnɔɪəns/ (bre, ipa) · /əˈnɔɪəns/ (ame, ipa) · /ə-ˈnȯi-ən(t)s/ (ame, mw)

annoyance — noun

1. the slight angry, impatient feeling you get when something or someone keeps both

1.名詞C1
釋義

the slight angry, impatient feeling you get when something or someone keeps bothering you or stops you from doing what you want.

例句

Citlali could hear the annoyance in her father's voice when he saw the broken vase.

the annoyance in [someone]'s voice — common collocation

To the teacher's great annoyance, the students kept whispering during the test.

to [someone]'s (great) annoyance — sentence-level pattern

同義詞
  • irritation

    very close in meaning; slightly more focused on the prickly mental sensation.

  • frustration

    stronger, suggests being blocked from a goal, not just bothered.

  • displeasure

    more formal; covers any dissatisfied feeling, not only the prickly bothered kind.

反義詞
  • pleasure

    the positive feeling that something is enjoyable, not bothersome.

  • delight

    stronger positive feeling; common in the parallel frame 'to her delight'.

文法句型

to someone's annoyance

with annoyance

用法筆記

Uncountable in this sense — say 'felt great annoyance', not 'an annoyance'. Frequently appears in fixed frames such as 'to (someone's) annoyance' and 'with annoyance', or paired with verbs like 'hide', 'show', 'cause', 'express'.

常見錯誤

❌I felt an annoyance when he was late.
✅I felt annoyance when he was late.
💡in the feeling sense, 'annoyance' is uncountable, so no 'an' or plural.
❌He looked at me with a big annoyance.
✅He looked at me with great annoyance.
💡modify with 'great', 'mild', 'obvious', not 'big'.

2. a thing, situation, or person that keeps causing you a small amount of trouble o

2.名詞C1
釋義

a thing, situation, or person that keeps causing you a small amount of trouble or bother, though not real harm.

例句

The mosquitoes by the lake were a constant annoyance during our family camping trip.

a constant annoyance — typical adjective collocation

For Viraj, his neighbor's barking dog was a daily annoyance he could no longer ignore.

subject = a person/thing; complement = annoyance

同義詞
  • nuisance

    very close synonym; slightly more focused on something that is repeatedly inconvenient.

  • bother

    more informal; emphasizes the small effort it costs you.

  • irritant

    formal; suggests something that constantly rubs people the wrong way.

反義詞
  • blessing

    something that brings comfort or benefit, the opposite of a small repeated bother.

文法句型

a minor / constant / small annoyance

用法筆記

Countable here, so 'a/an' or plural is correct ('a minor annoyance', 'small annoyances of city life'). Distinguish from sense 1 (FEELING): if you can replace it with 'irritation as a feeling', it is sense 1; if you can replace it with 'nuisance' or 'bother', it is sense 2.

常見錯誤

❌My slow laptop is annoyance.
✅My slow laptop is an annoyance.
💡countable, so it needs 'a/an' or a plural.
❌The traffic was a big annoyance for him.
✅The traffic was a major annoyance for him.
💡pair with 'minor', 'major', 'constant', 'real', not 'big'.