pet peeve
19
6.3
- noun
- /ˈpɛt ˈpiːv/
- Informal
:
manía
- But my pet peeve of the week is coffee cup leakage.
- biggest pet peeve
- pet peeve of mine
- one pet peeve
But my pet peeve of the week is coffee cup leakage.
- But my pet peeve of the week is coffee cup leakage.
- You know, that is my one pet peeve with mascaras.
- My biggest pet peeve is guys who don't wear Cologne.
- But yeah, question number six, what are some of your bookish pet peeves?
- From unpredictable Sri Prada, what's your biggest pet peeve?
- Now, the second thing you should ask a man in the early stages of dating is what are his pet peeves and his deal Breakers?
- My biggest pet peeve of the beach is sand on my feet.
- Another one of my pet peeves and attractive guys are not messy.
- Here go my other pet peeve because I'm on the plane for two days straight.
Examples
-
Thank you for addressing this; it has become such a pet peeve of mine.
Blog text (9) -
But I guess you could write that off as a pet peeve of mine.
Blog text (7) -
First of all, I have a pet peeve that I want to share with the people who are watching this.
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OK, what is the biggest pet peeve about me?
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What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to living with me?
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This is one of my pet peeves.
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What are your pet peeves?
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And my biggest pet peeve is the phrase "it is what it is."
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My biggest pet peeve is guys who don't wear Cologne.
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One of my biggest pet peeves is when people interrupt me while I'm speaking.
Synonyms
29
2.1
A thing that causes trouble or annoyance
21
3.2
A person or thing that bothers you
19
6.0
Something that often bothers you, like loud chewing
15
6.0
Something that causes discomfort or annoyance, like dust and some cleaners
Antonyms
How Annoying
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'something that especially annoys' is directly and compositionally derived from 'pet' (here meaning particular/favourite or especially singled out) + 'peeve' (a habitual annoyance). If a B1 learner knows both constituent senses, they can readily infer the MWE meaning without prior exposure, so it is transparent.
Etymology
Pet peeve may come from pet meaning a personal or favourite thing and peeve meaning 'annoyance'; imagine a small pet that keeps bothering only you. That's why pet peeve means a small, private annoyance that bothers one person more than others.