Synonyms for vex
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Annoy — to annoy, irritate
annoy, irritate, bother, chafe, provoke, agitate, rile, roil, trouble, distress, exasperate, displease, irk, molest, nettle, bedevil, offend, persecute, bewilder, hector, tease, get
2. Torment — to cause (mental) suffering to; to distress
Definitions
- v. 1
To annoy, irritate.
Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
- v. 2
To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
- v. 3
To trouble aggressively, to harass.
- v. 4
To twist, to weave.
Forms
- Past participle
- vexed
e.g. vexed → annoyed, irritated, bothered, chafed…
Choose the right word
Vex meant originally to seize and bear away hither and thither, and hence, to disturb; as, to vex the ocean with storms. This sense of the term now rarely occurs; but vex is still a stronger word than tease, denoting the disturbance or anger created by minor provocations, losses, disappointments, etc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Example sentences
- irritate What kind of things does Tom do that irritate you?
- agitate Now is not the time to agitate the hornet's nest.
- chafe The shoes will chafe if you don't wear socks.
- afflict My motto is: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
- fume Don't just sit there and fume. Tell me what's wrong.
By length
- 3 letters
- get1, dog1, bug1, irk1
- 4 letters
- pain1, bait1, fume1, rile1, roil1
- 5 letters
- worry2, harry2, tease1, annoy2, hound1, beset2, chafe1, grame
- 6 letters
- bother2, plague1, offend2, hector2, badger2, harass2, molest2, nettle2, pester2
- 7 letters
- trouble2, disturb2, provoke2, torment2, agitate3, afflict2, bedevil3, thrutch, commove
- 8 letters
- distress2, irritate3, bewilder3, bullyrag
- 9 letters
- persecute3, displease2
- 10 letters
- exasperate4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (worry2 = 2 syllables).