vex
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: vĕks
ipa: /vɛks/
rhymes: -ɛks
Forms: form: vexes
form: vexing
form: vexed
form: vexed
form: vext
form: vext
Etymology: From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vexāre (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Doublet of quake. Displaced native Old English dreċċan and gremman.
Senses: examples: text: Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
text: The first thing that greets you on entering the church is a notice asking you not to vex the goat, since it renders valuable service in keeping the churchyard tidy.
ref: 1980, AA book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:
synonyms: word: agitate
word: irk
word: irritate
word: aggravate
word: annoy
word: rankle
word: ruffle
word: sting
word: antagonize
word: bother
word: disgruntle
word: botherate
word: bug
word: get
word: grate
word: burn up
word: bedevil
word: cheese off
word: devil
word: exasperate
word: frustrate
word: get up
word: grotch
word: hack off
word: hassle
word: irk
word: irritate
word: jazz
word: molest
word: mommick
word: nark
word: nerve
word: pee off
word: peeve
word: persecute
word: pique
word: piss off
word: provoke
word: rile
word: rile up
word: roil
word: storm
word: test someone's patience
word: tick off
word: trouble
word: try one's patience
word: vex
word: wind up
word: Idioms:
word: boil someone's piss
word: chap someone's hide
word: get on someone's nerves
word: get on someone's tits
word: get on someone's wick
word: get someone's back up
word: get someone's dander up
word: get someone's goat
word: get someone's Irish up
word: get someone's nanny
word: get someone's nanny-goat
word: get under one's goat
word: get under someone's skin
word: give someone the shits
word: grind one's gears
word: harsh one's mellow
word: put someone's back up
word: raise someone's hackles
word: rub someone the wrong way
word: rub up the wrong way
word: ruffle someone's feathers
word: tee off
word: torque off
glosses: To annoy, irritate.
examples: text: I will not again vex her ear with words of love, however true, however deep: ours is an evil destiny, and we may not control it!
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 151:
text: I vex my heart with fancies dim:
⁠He still outstript me in the race;
⁠It was but unity of place
That made me dream I rank’d with him.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 64:
synonyms: afflict
grame
torment
glosses: To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
examples: text: In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ, to vexe them.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts xij:[1], folio clxxj, verso:
synonyms: word: beset
word: hassle
word: badger
word: bait
word: bedevil
word: beleaguer
word: persecute
word: bug
word: beset
word: chevy
word: give someone grief
word: harass
word: harry
word: hound
word: pester
word: pick at
word: plague
word: vex
glosses: To trouble aggressively, to harass.
examples: text: some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom
ref: 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
glosses: To twist, to weave.
examples: text: Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought
ref: 1613, George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois:
synonyms: chafe
fume
glosses: To be irritated; to fret.
examples: text: White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
glosses: To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
Synonyms: word: afflict
word: aggrieve
word: plague
word: atray
word: cag
word: distress
word: engrieve
word: grame
word: harass
word: harrow
word: harry
word: torment
word: trouble
word: vex
word: rend
word: wring
Hypernyms: word: affect
word: inflict
Hyponyms: word: hagride
word: humiliate
word: pester
word: sadden
Coordinate terms: word: hurt
Derived terms: vexation
vexatious
vexed
vexer
vexingly
Related terms: word: quake
word: vexatious
word: offend