exasperating

adjective

ex·​as·​per·​at·​ing ig-ˈza-spə-ˌrā-tiŋ 

: causing strong feelings of irritation or annoyance

an exasperating delay

After the most frustrating, aggravating and exasperating two days of his career …

—Jack Curry

The following days brought light fluky winds and I made only 35 miles of progress in two days. It was very exasperating.

—Tom Peterson

exasperatingly adverb

an exasperatingly slow process

The heater warmed up slowly; its temperature was exasperatingly difficult to adjust.

—Consumer Reports

Synonyms

• abrasive
• aggravating
• annoying
• bothersome
• carking
• chafing
• disturbing
• frustrating
• galling
• irksome
• irritating
• maddening
• nettlesome
• nettling
• peeving
• pesky
• pestiferous
• pestilent
• pestilential
• pesty
• plaguey
• plaguy
• rankling
• rebarbative
• riling
• vexatious
• vexing

Examples of exasperating in a Sentence

those exasperating details that come with almost any job

Recent Examples on the Web

Doing so at this time can be exasperating for human software engineers. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024

The entire mindset of the complaint is exasperating to UCLA education professor Tyrone Howard. —Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2024

The early 20th century novelist, who worked most of his life at an insurance company in Prague, knew a thing or two about exasperating bureaucracies. —Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2024

The merged generative AI model is bloated and runs extremely slowly, possibly so piggish that using it on everyday tasks is exasperating and imprudent due to enormous delays while processing. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1592, in the meaning defined above