different between annoyance vs botheration

English

Alternative forms

• annoyaunce (obsolete)
• annoying (obsolete)
• annoyment (nonstandard)

Etymology

From Middle English anoiaunce, from Old French anuiance, anoiance, from the verb anuier (“to cause problems”). Compare French ennui.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n???ns/

Noun

annoyance (countable and uncountable, plural annoyances)

1. (countable) That which annoys.
2. (countable) An act or instance of annoying.
3. (uncountable) The psychological state of being annoyed or irritated.

Synonyms

• nark

Translations

English

Etymology

From bother +? -ation (suffix indicating an action or process, or its result).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?ð???e??n?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?ð???e??(?)n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: bo?ther?a?tion

Interjection

botheration (originally Ireland, dated, often humorous)

1. A mild expression of annoyance or exasperation: bother!
   • 1918, Katherine Mansfield, "Prelude" in Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback, 2002, p. 120

     Botheration! How she had crumpled her skirt, kneeling in that idiotic way.

   • 1955, C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew, Collins, 1998, Chapter 3,

     "Blast and botheration!" exclaimed Digory. "What's gone wrong now? [...]"

Translations

Noun

botheration (countable and uncountable, plural botherations) (originally Ireland, dated, often humorous)

1. (uncountable) The state of being bothered; annoyance, vexation.

   Synonyms: irritation; see also Thesaurus:annoyance

   • 1803, William Blake, Letter to his brother James Blake dated 30 January, 1803, in The Poetry and Prose of William Blake, edited by David V. Erdman, New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1970, p. 696,

     I write in great haste & with a head full of botheration about various projected works [...]

   • 1982, Saul Bellow, The Dean's December, New York: Pocket Books, 1983, Chapter 4, p. 59,

     At home he read too many papers. He was better off without his daily dose of world botheration, sham happenings, without newspaper phrases.

2. (countable) An act of bothering or annoying.
3. (countable) A person or thing that causes bother, inconvenience, trouble, etc.

   Synonym: nuisance

   • 1954, Peter De Vries, The Tunnel of Love, New York: Popular Library, Chapter Six, p. 63,

     [...] the by-products and botherations that go with pleasures make it hardly worth it. Sex is supposedly life's greatest pleasure and look what it gives you.

Translations

References