pain in the anus
- noun
- Offensive
:
dolor en el culo (vulgar)
- My brother can be a bit of a pain in the anus when he borrows my things without asking.
Examples
-
That new paperwork requirement has become a real pain in the anus for the whole team.
-
Dealing with all these tiny errors is such a pain in the anus sometimes.
-
That coworker is such a pain in the anus!
-
Why is he always a pain in the anus during meetings?
-
Dealing with all these tiny errors is such a pain in the anus sometimes.
-
My brother can be a bit of a pain in the anus when he borrows my things without asking.
-
That new paperwork requirement has become a real pain in the anus for the whole team.
Synonyms
418
3.0
Something that causes annoyance or trouble
109
9.2
A person or thing that is very annoying and difficult to deal with
21
3.2
A person or thing that bothers you
11
4.1
A person or thing that is annoying and causes trouble
8
8.0
A very annoying person or thing that causes trouble
1
7.4
Something that causes trouble or makes people annoyed
1
7.0
Something that keeps causing you trouble or worry
Antonyms
How Annoying
- Offensive
- Informal
11
4.1
- Informal
1
7.4
62
3.6
21
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal combination of 'pain' + 'in' + 'the' + 'anus' yields a bodily sensation located in that body part, so a B1 learner who knows the words would most likely interpret it literally. The idiomatic meaning 'an annoying or troublesome person/thing' is not predictable from the constituents and is a vulgar, language-specific extension, so learners would need prior exposure to acquire that sense.
Etymology
Pain in the anus comes from a strong, literal picture: feeling real pain in the anus is very uncomfortable and bothers you a lot. People used that picture to describe someone or something that is very annoying, and that's why today it means 'an annoying or troublesome person or thing'.