adjective

• Irritating; annoying.

  ‘an irksome journey’

  More example sentences

  • ‘petty regulations were becoming very irksome’
  • ‘‘That's so kind of you, sweetheart,’ he takes the tub with an irritatingly irksome smile on his face.’
  • ‘In conclusion I have to say it is quite tiresome and irksome to respond to some ancient email which has been dredged up and thrown back at me.’
  • ‘This has the effect of reducing the slightly irksome similarity - in mood, key, pace, instrumentation - of many of the songs on offer.’
  • ‘This irksome inmate has been driving the nation insane with her contrived ‘street savvy’ conversational technique.’
  • ‘It is an irksome chore, which I would rather avoid.’
  • ‘But if restrictions off the field of play are irksome it's nothing compared to the turmoil he's going through on the pitch these days.’
  • ‘Equally irksome, however, is the trend for outpourings of cloying sentimentality that deface the personal columns at this time of year.’
  • ‘One of the most irksome things that can happen to a mobile phone user is a flat battery, and the charging devices are designed to solve the problem.’
  • ‘It has always been irksome to publishers that they actually have to pay money to those weirdo deadbeats who wander in with manuscripts under their arms.’
  • ‘His irksome bosses at headquarters don't comprehend the risk but I guess those in faraway command are the same all over the universe.’
  • ‘This has not only slowed down the whole process of integration but has also proved to be irksome to stakeholders in commerce.’
  • ‘It is irksome that some common sense preventative measures are not in place.’
  • ‘Managements may protest in all sincerity that that's all there is, or that this or that new and more irksome work practice is essential.’
  • ‘Summer had arrived and through the open door the sound of a tin whistle-playing busker/beggar grew irksome.’
  • ‘A couple of years hence, it can make a significant difference between having some fault cured for free or at irksome expense.’
  • ‘Why subject yourself to an irksome book when so many sublime ones are available?’
  • ‘Accountability, and the political engagement it encourages, is always irksome to governments.’
  • ‘At least the new films have produced some satisfyingly irksome tagline puns.’
  • ‘Clearly, this is an irksome fact to someone whose ambitions extend beyond maximising profit.’
  • ‘Similarly irksome is the fawning critical reception to this wretched doorstop of a book.’

  Synonyms

  irritating, annoying, vexing, vexatious, galling, exasperating, displeasing, grating, disagreeable

  View synonyms