Library / English Dictionary

VEX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be a mystery or bewildering to

Example:

This question really stuck me

Synonyms:

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "vex" is one way to...):

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "vex"):

mix up; stump (cause to be perplexed or confounded)

riddle (set a difficult problem or riddle)

elude; escape (be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Subject to prolonged examination, discussion, or deliberation

Example:

vex the subject of the death penalty

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "vex" is one way to...):

debate; deliberate (discuss the pros and cons of an issue)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Change the arrangement or position of

Synonyms:

agitate; commove; disturb; raise up; shake up; stir up; vex

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "vex" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "vex"):

beat; scramble (stir vigorously)

toss (agitate)

rile; roil (make turbid by stirring up the sediments of)

poke (stir by poking)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress

Example:

I cannot sleep--my daughter's health is worrying me

Synonyms:

vex; worry

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "vex" is one way to...):

cark; disorder; disquiet; distract; perturb; trouble; unhinge (disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed)

Cause:

worry (be worried, concerned, anxious, troubled, or uneasy)

Verb group:

worry (be worried, concerned, anxious, troubled, or uneasy)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "vex"):

nag (worry persistently)

eat; eat on (worry or cause anxiety in a persistent way)

misgive (suggest fear or doubt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

vexation (something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations

Example:

It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves

Synonyms:

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "vex" is one way to...):

displease (give displeasure to)

Verb group:

chafe (feel extreme irritation or anger)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "vex"):

get; get under one's skin (irritate)

eat into; fret; grate; rankle (gnaw into; make resentful or angry)

peeve (cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful)

ruffle (trouble or vex)

fret (cause annoyance in)

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)

antagonise; antagonize (provoke the hostility of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will vex him

The performance is likely to vex Sue

Derivation:

vexation (the act of troubling or annoying someone)

vexation (the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed)

vexer (someone given to teasing (as by mocking or stirring curiosity))

Credits

 Context examples: 

At this the son was vexed; and forgetting his word, turned his ring, and wished for his queen and son.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I will tease you and vex you to your heart's content, when I have finished my tale: but hear me to the end.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I—have thought about them," Ruth confessed, remembering the wanton thoughts that had vexed her in the past, her face again red with maiden shame that she should be telling such things.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I have never been able, continued Lucy, to give him my picture in return, which I am very much vexed at, for he has been always so anxious to get it!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Also, there were comings and goings, and the erstwhile placid atmosphere of the cabin was vexed with strange perturbations and unrest.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

No serious quarrel had ever vexed the serenity of the party; and, now that each had sixteen hundred dollars to show for a short summer's work, there reigned the well-fed, contented spirit of prosperity.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He had before served me a scurvy trick, which set the queen a-laughing, although at the same time she was heartily vexed, and would have immediately cashiered him, if I had not been so generous as to intercede.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Miss Crawford was too much vexed by what had passed to be in a humour for anything but music.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

You do not know how vexed I am; I shall have no pleasure at Clifton, nor in anything else.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)