Safeguards are often irksome but sometimes convenient , and if one needs them at all, one is apt to need them badly.    From LearnThat.org. 

But still my mind in irksome mood.    From Wordnik.com.  [Life in the Rocky Mountains] Reference

Second, the 'irksome' five-star in the corner of the regional flag is soon to be a thing of the past.    From Wordnik.com.  [American Chronicle] Reference

Antitrust suits as a means of enforcing the law, Roosevelt declared, were "irksome" and prolonged affairs.    From Wordnik.com.  [LewRockwell.com] Reference

A kind of irksome ballast which holds down to earth a soul eager to rise aloft.    From Wordnik.com.  [Laughter : an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic] Reference

And the rich can always find a way around irksome laws.    From Wordnik.com.  [Europe Vs. The Car] Reference

They are very valuable if they are not considered irksome.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Literature] Reference

Life in the patriot camp often grew irksome to the volunteers of.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Dare Boys of 1776] Reference

No labor is really irksome that helps the masses of our fellow men.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy] Reference

Cora, beginning to find her part irksome, hurried to its conclusion.    From Wordnik.com.  [Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter] Reference

Here the conversation, which was irksome to my feelings, terminated.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Sailor of King George] Reference

It is truly irksome to me to see everybody still eager to learn more.    From Wordnik.com.  [Mizora: A Prophecy A MSS. Found Among the Private Papers of the Princess Vera Zarovitch] Reference

But it grew irksome to Miss Samantha Carewe seated on the third bench.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Bishop of Cottontown A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills] Reference

This year there will be more high passions and more irksome old undies.    From Wordnik.com.  [New Faces Of 1996] Reference

The routine and discipline of the schoolroom became too irksome to be borne.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Captain's Bunk A Story for Boys] Reference

Obedience was no part of his nature -- subordination was irksome and oppressive.    From Wordnik.com.  [Western Characters or Types of Border Life in the Western States] Reference

The very existence of the subjugated race had become irksome to their oppressors.    From Wordnik.com.  [Acadia or, A Month with the Blue Noses] Reference

For someone who already wears specs, donning a second set is an irksome irritant.    From Wordnik.com.  [Seth Shostak: 3-D Movies: Wave of the Future or Fleeting Fad?] Reference

There's only a miserly sprinkling of the clever moments in an ocean of the irksome ones.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tune In, Turn On] Reference

To be a murderer with benefit of clergy is but an odious and irksome privilege after all!.    From Wordnik.com.  [The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851] Reference

There is much that he must smile over -- much, too, which is irksome for him to dwell upon.    From Wordnik.com.  [Lippincott's Magazine, December 1878] Reference

But the evening was now arrived previous to beginning "the irksome task," as she styled it.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Boarding School Familiar conversations between a governess and her pupils. Written for the amusement and instruction of young ladies.] Reference

This gave much relief, the daytime heat being generally irksome and often distressingly hot.    From Wordnik.com.  [Crossing the Plains, Days of '57 A Narrative of Early Emigrant Tavel to California by the Ox-team Method] Reference

There is a certain sameness in other divertisements, which must become irksome to the spectator.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor Volume I, Number 3] Reference

For most people the post office is the irksome home to long lines, lost checks and slow service.    From Wordnik.com.  [Going Postal, Literary Style] Reference

It relieved her of present society, which though friendly was irksome, and promised future comfort.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Heart of Arethusa] Reference

A soldier's life becomes irksome when he is encamped for any great length of time at any one point.    From Wordnik.com.  [Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive] Reference

He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ask Jeeves All About Him] Reference

But you are strong and well, Ruthie, and you can do a deal that other girls of your age would find irksome.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret] Reference

Particularly irksome to some was Shipp's description of his relationship with Simpson as servant-to-celebrity.    From Wordnik.com.  [Playing The Race Card] Reference

But the duty was irksome, and often she longed to throw the book from her and give the scholars their dismissal.    From Wordnik.com.  ['Our Guy' or, The elder brother] Reference

They keep card indexes on their unmarketed manuscripts, and toil on as much irksome office routine as a stock broker.    From Wordnik.com.  [If You Don't Write Fiction] Reference

The unfortunate Sultan then retired to rest in an obscure tent, or rather not to rest, but to an irksome contemplation.    From Wordnik.com.  [Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers] Reference

During the latter part of our duress here we were driven below by raw, incessant rain, and the confinement became irksome.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 87, January, 1865] Reference

The soldiers in the trenches fret and fume under cover; confined concealment is irksome and is a supreme test of the nerves.    From Wordnik.com.  [Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War] Reference

He found it irksome to go into society, because there the manner of one's reception depends on the efforts one makes to please.    From Wordnik.com.  [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 380, June, 1847] Reference