To annoy means to bother or irritate someone in a way that's persistent but usually not serious. When your little brother keeps poking you while you're trying to read, he's annoying you. When a mosquito buzzes around your ear at night, it's annoying. When someone behind you in class keeps tapping their pencil over and over, that repetitive sound becomes annoying.

The feeling of being annoyed sits somewhere between mildly bothered and genuinely angry. It's that sense of frustration when something keeps interrupting your concentration or comfort, like when you're trying to focus on homework but your neighbor's dog won't stop barking.

What makes something annoying often isn't that it's terrible on its own, but that it keeps happening or won't go away. One fly in the room might not bother you much, but a fly that lands on your arm ten times in five minutes becomes genuinely annoying.

People can be described as annoying when they regularly bother others, perhaps by asking the same question repeatedly or making irritating noises. An annoyance is something or someone that annoys you. While being annoyed is unpleasant, it's usually temporary and not as intense as being truly upset or hurt.