To be peeved means to feel annoyed or irritated by something. When you're peeved, you're not furious or enraged, just bothered enough that it gets under your skin. You might feel peeved when your little brother keeps poking you during a car ride, when someone spoils the ending of a book you were reading, or when you're ready to leave for the park but everyone else is moving slowly.

The word captures that specific feeling of mild but real frustration. If someone cuts in front of you in the lunch line, you'd probably feel peeved rather than furious. If your friend keeps interrupting while you're trying to tell a story, that's the kind of thing that peeves people.

You'll often hear people say they're feeling peeved or that something really peeves them. A pet peeve is something that particularly bothers you even though it might not bother others much. Maybe your pet peeve is people chewing with their mouths open, or classmates who click their pens constantly during quiet work time. Everyone has different pet peeves because we all have different things that get on our nerves.