Loading page
say it: PEH-skee
pesky is an adjective meaning "causing irritation or annoyance". It carries one recorded sense.
causing irritation or annoyance
“tapping an annoying rhythm on his glass with his fork”
“aircraft noise is particularly bothersome near the airport”
“found it galling to have to ask permission”
“an irritating delay”
“nettlesome paperwork”
“a pesky mosquito”
“swarms of pestering gnats”
“a plaguey newfangled safety catch”
“a teasing and persistent thought annoyed him”
“a vexatious child”
“it is vexing to have to admit you are wrong”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for pesky come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.