exasperating
adjective
ex·as·per·at·ing
ig-ˈza-spə-ˌrā-tiŋ 
: causing strong feelings of irritation or annoyance
an exasperating delay
After the most frustrating, aggravating and exasperating two days of his career …—
Jack Curry
Jack CurryThe following days brought light fluky winds and I made only 35 miles of progress in two days. It was very exasperating.—Tom Peterson
Tom Peterson
exasperatingly
adverb
an exasperatingly slow process
The heater warmed up slowly; its temperature was exasperatingly difficult to adjust.
—Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
Synonyms
Examples of exasperating in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And the ways in which Bandit continually overestimates his ability to avoid injury or public embarrassment at the hands of his adorable yet frequently exasperating daughters provides an endless source of comedy.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2024
One of the most exasperating parts of the Gregg Berhalter U.S.
—Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
And yet who else in the last quarter-century has done more to insist on some standard of alternative etiquette, to speak to the humiliating, exasperating paradoxes of doing just about anything in 21st-century America?
—Wesley Morris Ron Butler Emma Kehlbeck Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Italy is beautiful and fickle, mesmerizing and exasperating, glorious and antiquated.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2024
Janine’s exasperating lovability, by contrast, was clear immediately.
—Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
As such, we are left with just the debate to respond to, which in its exasperating back and forth quickly becomes the dramatic equivalent of the whataboutism the characters condemn.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024
The last, most exasperating intervention was from the Associated Press, an institution meant to walk the line of consensus in American politics.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 10 Jan. 2024
Still, Lucy Gray’s reluctance to assume the lethal demands of the Hunger Games proves exasperating, as Coriolanus scrambles to find creative ways to help from the sidelines (by turning sponsorship drones into weapons and such).
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Nov. 2023
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2024
One of the most exasperating parts of the Gregg Berhalter U.S.
—Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
And yet who else in the last quarter-century has done more to insist on some standard of alternative etiquette, to speak to the humiliating, exasperating paradoxes of doing just about anything in 21st-century America?
—Wesley Morris Ron Butler Emma Kehlbeck Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
Italy is beautiful and fickle, mesmerizing and exasperating, glorious and antiquated.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2024
Janine’s exasperating lovability, by contrast, was clear immediately.
—Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
As such, we are left with just the debate to respond to, which in its exasperating back and forth quickly becomes the dramatic equivalent of the whataboutism the characters condemn.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024
The last, most exasperating intervention was from the Associated Press, an institution meant to walk the line of consensus in American politics.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 10 Jan. 2024
Still, Lucy Gray’s reluctance to assume the lethal demands of the Hunger Games proves exasperating, as Coriolanus scrambles to find creative ways to help from the sidelines (by turning sponsorship drones into weapons and such).
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'exasperating.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near exasperating
Cite this Entry
“Exasperating.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exasperating. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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