annoys

verb

present tense third-person singular of annoy
as in bothers
to disturb the peace of mind of (someone) especially by repeated disagreeable acts deliberately annoyed the elderly neighbor by walking across his lawn

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of annoys Hotel-booking platform HotelTonight surveyed 447 of its American adult users in June about what annoys them the most during travel. — Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 21 July 2026 But Turner is a symbol for everything that annoys people about the Phillies. — Matt Gelb, New York Times, 19 July 2026 Another potential ingredient in whether a company annoys customers is its business model. — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 7 July 2026 That's Clearly Too Heavy This isn't just something that annoys flight attendants, but a potentially hazardous task for crew members. — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 3 July 2026 One of the more common ways bear encounters escalate is when an off-leash dog runs toward a bear, annoys it, and then comes sprinting back to its owner with an angry predator in pursuit. — Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026 Seeing this much effort put into ripping off people annoys him. — Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 1 June 2026 Just the idea of him annoys me. — ABC News, 26 May 2026 Still, what really annoys Daisy is that Ellie doesn’t seem to respect her rank. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 26 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for annoys
  1. bothers
  2. irritates
  3. bugs
  4. persecutes
  5. aggravates
Verb
  • Repel Mice Ultrasonic mouse repellers emit high-frequency sound waves that humans can’t hear, but the high pitch bothers mice.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 17 Aug. 2026
  • My concern is what happens when the signal becomes so established that nobody bothers separating it from the qualities it was supposed to represent.
    — Jim Osman, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of bothers
Verb
  • The capsaicin in hot peppers irritates pests and deters them from feeding on plants.
    — Farima Ferguson, The Spruce, 15 July 2026
  • Anyone who has sat through a mandatory team-building exercise knows the difference between a ritual that binds and a program that irritates.
    — Julia Dhar, Time, 11 July 2026
Definition of irritates
Verb
  • Not too much bugs him, but he sometimes is annoyed by his baby sister and doesn’t trust people who put pineapple on their pizza.
    — Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Lift sheets, curtains and cushions to check for bed bugs or signs of bed bugs before settling in.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 18 July 2026
Definition of bugs
Verb
  • China, which jails human rights activists in Hong Kong, persecutes Uyghurs, has killed hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and has committed genocide against the Falun Gong, is on the UN Human Rights Council.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026
  • In Russia, the civilian repressive apparatus persecutes the military, which leaps at every chance for revenge.
    — Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
Definition of persecutes
Verb
  • Regardless, the lure of short-form cricket aggravates the Test situation.
    — Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
  • But when Dusty takes a tumble and aggravates his old wrist injury, that puts him out of the running.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026
Definition of aggravates

Browse Nearby Words

annoyingly
annoys
annual
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Cite this Entry

“Annoys.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/annoys. Accessed 24 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of annoys for Spanish Speakers

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