stressful

Compared meaning: describing an unpleasant or hard-to-bear experience (adjective).

比较义项：形容令人不愉快、难以忍受的经历或处境（形容词）。

• dreadful

  The strongest, most general word: it rates something as extremely bad in quality or experience, without pointing to a specific feeling like worry, irritation, or endurance. Common with weather, food, performance, or news.

  语气最强、最通用的词：直接评价某事物极其糟糕，并不特别指向某种具体感受（如焦虑、烦躁或考验耐性），常与天气、食物、表现或消息搭配。

  The food at the hotel buffet was absolutely dreadful.

  那家酒店自助餐的食物简直糟糕透了。

• stressful 本词

  Focuses on causing worry, pressure, or anxiety, often from demands, deadlines, or uncertainty; it describes the emotional strain a situation puts on a person, not its general badness or its irritation.

  侧重造成焦虑、压力或紧张，通常源于任务、期限或不确定因素；强调某处境给人带来的心理压力，而非事情本身有多糟糕或多么令人烦躁。

  Constantly worrying about money can be very stressful.

  总是为钱发愁会让人压力很大。

• annoying

  Describes something that causes mild anger or irritation, usually a small, specific, often repeated trigger (a habit, noise, delay); it is much weaker than dreadful and not about stress or endurance.

  指令人产生轻微的生气或烦躁，通常源于某个具体、往往反复出现的小事（习惯、噪音、拖延等）；语气比 dreadful 弱得多，也与焦虑或耐性考验无关。

  It is really annoying when my phone battery dies so fast.

  手机电量消耗得这么快，真的很讨厌。

• trying

  A fairly formal word for a prolonged, demanding situation or person that tests one's patience and wears a person down over time, combining hardship with mild irritation rather than sudden shock or fear.

  语气较正式，形容持续、艰难、考验耐心并使人身心俱疲的处境或人，兼有辛苦与轻微的烦躁感，而非突如其来的震惊或恐惧。

  Working two jobs while studying was a trying experience for her.

  一边打两份工一边上学，对她来说是一段令人身心俱疲的经历。

Dreadful, stressful, annoying, and trying all describe unpleasant experiences, but differently. Dreadful is strongest, meaning extremely bad overall. Stressful focuses on worry and pressure. Annoying means mild irritation, often from something small and repeated. Trying describes a long situation that tests your patience over time.

这几个词都能形容让人不快的经历，但语气强弱和具体感受不同：dreadful 强调程度极差，stressful 侧重带来焦虑和压力，annoying 侧重引起轻微的烦躁，trying 则强调持续考验耐心、让人身心俱疲。