Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cause to be annoyed or resentful. See Synonyms at annoy.
- n. A vexation; a grievance.
- n. A resentful mood: in a peeve about the delays.
Wiktionary
WordNet 3.0
- n. an annoyed or irritated mood
- v. cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful
Etymologies
- Back-formation from peevish.
Examples
“But really my main peeve is how they use it to detail every minute of their day … and people actually care.”
“My biggest pet peeve is publishers 'seemingly random decisions on changing the format of books.”
“My own personal pet peeve is striking through text.”
“Jan: Thanks for the article; it did soothe me substantially, and I really like your argument that the age of peeve is ending.”
Won’t someone please think of the adverbs? « Motivated Grammar
“However, my pet-peeve is people who expect you to show up EARLY.”
“Speaking of unnecessary administrative overhead, my new pet peeve is mail-in rebates.”
Pseudo-currency, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“My pet peeve is people that see my decoys and move in right next to me, throw out decoys and start shooting at every duck out of range.”
“My pet peeve is people that see my decoys and move in right next to me, throw out decoys and start shooting at every duck out of | Field & Stream”
“Another pet peeve is when some folks get all over you for keeping the fish you catch.”
“My own personal pet peeve is the underutilization of Douglass North and the new institutional economics.”
Dogs Not Barking, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
reesetee Good point. :-) Jan 7, 2008
mollusque It's the balance of vowels and consonants. Peevedness isn't as good as peeved either. Jan 7, 2008
reesetee I don't either--but oddly, I do like peeved. Hmm. Jan 7, 2008
brtom I don't like this word ... so why do I use it? Jan 6, 2008