peeve
Americanverb (used with object)
-
peeves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
peeved,
past participle, past
-
peeving
present participle
noun
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peeves
plural
-
a source of annoyance or irritation.
Tardiness is one of my greatest peeves.
- Synonyms:
- grievance, affliction, vexation
-
an annoyed or irritated mood.
to be in a peeve.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
peevesimple
-
peevessimple
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have peevedperfect
-
has peevedperfect
-
am peevingprogressive
-
are peevingprogressive
-
is peevingprogressive
-
have been peevingperfect progressive
-
has been peevingperfect progressive
Past
-
peevedsimple
-
had peevedperfect
-
was peevingprogressive
-
were peevingprogressive
-
had been peevingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of peeve
1905–10, back formation from peevish
Explanation
A peeve is something that really annoys you, like waiting in a long line or dropping a can on your toe because someone left it on the counter. Again. It's also a word for describing your resulting mood: peeved. You probably know the term "pet peeve," which is something that may not bother everyone, but particularly irritates you. Your pet peeve might be misspelled words on signs, mismatched socks, or close talkers. Peeve is also a verb, meaning "irritate." The adjective peevish, for “silly, perverse” came first, in the fourteenth century.
Vocabulary lists containing peeve
The Sound and the Fury: Synonyms for "Anger"
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Concrete Rose
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Red Flags and Butterflies
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Receiving cold calls from friends and family is now a huge pet peeve of mine,” she said.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026
Another pet peeve for many are sketchy cycling lanes in a city where 18 percent of all trips are made by bike.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
“This idea that cats are trying to manipulate us is a big pet peeve of mine,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
It’s a pet peeve of hers when someone is multitasking when she’s trying to talk to them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
I know that unnecessarily tall things are a pet peeve of Autumn’s, but I don’t understand why she seems so ready to go head-to-head with something this huge.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
His biggest etiquette pet peeves include underdressing and overfamiliarity, especially in virtual settings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
When I asked El-Erian about the Fed, I was gratified to hear him address one of my pet peeves: the dim-bulb types who proudly declare themselves to be data-dependent, full stop.
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Nikki shares her biggest home staging pet peeves.
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2023
Here’s a look at the couple’s breakups, makeups, parenting, advocating and peeves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
Instead of getting to know each other, becoming familiar with likes and dislikes, ticklish spots, pet peeves, Desdemona and Lefty tried to defamiliarize themselves with each other.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Apple’s AI missteps, including a botched rollout of a smarter version of the Siri voice assistant, peeved investors last year.
From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026
Recalls a peeved Mr. Blankfein: “It was like the undertaker calling at your sickbed.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
“I didn’t come here to play games, and that’s kind of what this is feeling like to me,” says one peeved competitor on this romance game show, “And it’s a little disappointing.”
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2025
Voters attracted to Reform don't come from any one political tribe, but ask pollsters and they share a sentiment – they're pretty peeved with the UK in 2025.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2025
I should have been proud and happy to know my parents had so much confidence in me that they would leave Alice in my charge, but the truth was that I was peeved.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
No-one needs point out to Starmer himself that changing the leadership mid-government causes huge disruption to Whitehall and the country by slowing down the government's work and peeving the public.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
Vigilante peeving does nothing to actually educate people.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 4, 2013
Instead of peeving about supposed incorrect usage, they find themselves using better dictionaries, consulting better usage guides, and looking at cost-free high-quality online materials - such as language corpora - to figure it out.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2011
I can't say I was wholly faultless in peeving Governor Reed but I couldn't let him get away with that.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was exulting in the thought that he must be peeving Amanda.
From Amanda — a Daughter of the Mennonites by Anna Balmer Myers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
