a pain in the neck
/ə ˌpeɪn ɪn ðə ˈnek/INFORMAL · B2
Meaning
a very annoying person or thing
Examples
- 1The new parking rules are a pain in the neck for everyone on our street.
- 2My little brother can be a pain in the neck when I have friends round.
- 3Filling in the same long form three times because the website kept crashing was a pain in the neck.
- 4Why is the printer always such a pain in the neck when I'm in a hurry?
- 5Our neighbour's dog barks all night and has become a pain in the neck.
Grammar
A noun phrase, usually after be or become. such a pain in the neck is common; nothing goes inside the phrase.
Similar in meaning
More idioms about the body
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English Idioms400 idioms in 20 topics — with reviews that keep them from fading
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