What's the difference between annoying and pesky?

Annoying


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Annoy
  • (a.) That annoys; molesting; vexatious.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Asked about white predominance in the sport, South African rugby journalist Paul Dobson replied: "If you suggest that again I'll get annoyed and put the phone down.
  • (2) He was 'annoyed' after a phone call with Maxine Carr, in which she'd told him she was going out 'again' with her mother that evening in Grimsby ('Do you like to control people?'
  • (3) When my pictures were published, some Star Wars fans were annoyed that the house in this picture had been left in such a state of disrepair.
  • (4) One of the most annoying complications of rhinoplasty is the supra-tip hump (pollybeak).
  • (5) Indeed, while people might be annoyed or alarmed at the idea of being given placebos, medics probably wouldn't need to were it not for the modern blight of the Worried Well clogging up consulting rooms.
  • (6) Although mumbling is frustrating and annoying at times, it may be a helpful clue to some of the client's most anxiety-provoking thoughts or feelings.
  • (7) Later, when Leven moved to another squat, in Maida Vale, London, he suggested they bring in a bass player and percussionist to form a band, and they started rehearsing "with mattresses around the walls to deaden the sound, but still annoying the neighbours".
  • (8) It’s annoying that we haven’t stretched our lead but we’ve got to accept that and take it forward.
  • (9) It is difficult to prove that noise is detrimental to our health; many people are annoyed by noise; however, only particular groups (children, the elderly, the handicapped, people who wear a hearing aid, people with heart disease) are affected as far as health is concerned, and it is these people who require special protection.
  • (10) Noise in open-plan computer rooms and annoyance and perceived deterioration in performance associated with it also appears to be a problem that may be similarly categorized.
  • (11) The program kept asking what my surname at birth was - annoying, since, despite getting married in 1994, I've had the same surname all my life.
  • (12) Our government understands that we have to help but if they send troops officially, that would annoy Europe, and Nato.
  • (13) Rather than getting annoyed, you’re feeling comforted.
  • (14) Amazon and MasterCard don't like it either, and their clients were probably annoyed.
  • (15) His annoyance was memorably captured by a BBC film crew for a documentary.
  • (16) And you can see that some writers' talents are fed by great exposure to society and then there are others – DH Lawrence is a good example – who think they want acceptance but actually they can't stand it and they've got to annoy people by pointing out uncomfortable things, and that's more me.
  • (17) Merkel will be annoyed that a group set up by the Tories has given a platform to her opponents.
  • (18) Information on safety and side effects is also presented, such as a possible increase in serum cholesterol levels and annoying side effects that may severely limit widespread use of this food supplement.
  • (19) After the second such call, my wife became annoyed at the intrusion he was making in our weekend.
  • (20) Irritations are mainly due to the particulate phase of environmental tobacco smoke, whereas the gas phase is to a large extent responsible for annoyance.

Pesky


Definition:

  • (a.) Pestering; vexatious; troublesome. Used also as an intensive.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Finally, there is that pesky matter of public debt, which is still 90% of eurozone GDP.
  • (2) He is also characterised as "the devoted husband of a bestselling novelist with a few of her own ideas about how fiction works"; a funny sentence construction that carries a faint whiff of husband stoically bent over his books as wife keeps popping up with pesky theories about realism.
  • (3) If anyone in Macclesfield wants, for a small fee, I will come round to your house, lift the pesky varmint out of the bath with finger and thumb and fling it out of the window.
  • (4) I'd known I was a girl since I was four, if you'll excuse the cliche, but everyone told me I couldn't be, because of a pesky penis between my legs.
  • (5) Stokes sent a downward header towards the far corner from seven yards but the pesky keeper again meddled, diving full length to push it to safety.
  • (6) 7.55pm BST 8 min: Bayern are determined that they will prevail but pesky Dortmund just keep disrupting their attempts to build moves.
  • (7) The fate of the American car industry, that pesky stimulus package, impending financial and ecological doom.
  • (8) However, the same pesky proprietary screws are present, and it's never a joy to encounter fused (read: expensive to replace) displays.
  • (9) Hopefully users will be able to finally do away with pesky pins and iTunes passwords.
  • (10) They want to get round the pesky one-person-one-vote principle that democracies anachronistically cling to in the face of economic reality.
  • (11) And all because those pesky London house prices mean having room for a baby is a pipe dream.
  • (12) A lot of women have the idea that IUD, IUS and also injectables can affect future fertility in the long term, and there is really no evidence for that.” Mumbled misinformation aside, long-acting reversible contraception has a trump card, as one IUS-using friend put it: “Once it is installed in your body, you can’t not take it, so it gets rid of that pesky human error.” It’s a thought that has struck policy-makers, too.
  • (13) Once you start measuring a citizen’s worth and standing by their financial muscle, women will be disadvantaged, with their pesky career breaks and maternity leave entitlements.
  • (14) Unusual among grains, quinoa has a high protein content (between 14%-18%), and it contains all those pesky, yet essential, amino acids needed for good health that can prove so elusive to vegetarians who prefer not to pop food supplements.
  • (15) Yet the coalition's reflex response remains to defend the City against the pesky meddling of Brussels.
  • (16) There’s the constant traffic belching fumes that linger in the humid air; the uneven sidewalks that have a pesky habit of vanishing halfway along the street; the sheer distances to cover in this elongated, ever-expanding metropolis.
  • (17) Interviewed this morning about the interim report of Sir Howard Davies's Airports Commission , the London mayor sputtered with frustration at Britain's inability to get its act together and keep up with its international rivals: "You go to Hong Kong, they're flying every hour of the day and night," he said, forgetting to mention that in the Chinese territory decisions can be made without too much regard to the pesky demands of voters on the flightpath.
  • (18) He's still a pesky and dangerous playmaker, although his effectiveness of late has been sapped by a knee injury that the Spurs certainly will exploit.
  • (19) The old joke that the BBC would be an efficient, well oiled machine if it were not for the pesky programme makers, seemed to be taken seriously at the top.
  • (20) On interest rates, the Bank of England still has the pedal to the metal, and George Osborne has made sure the housing market is perky verging on pesky .

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