Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To irritate, bother, or frustrate: synonym: annoy.
  • transitive verb To cause perplexity in; baffle.
  • transitive verb To cause difficulty or trouble to.
  • transitive verb To cause pain or physical distress to; afflict.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A trouble; a vexation.
  • To make angry by little provocations; excite slight anger or displeasure in; trouble by petty or light annoyances; irritate; tease; fret; plague; annoy; harass.
  • To make sorrowful; grieve; afflict; distress.
  • To agitate; disturb; overturn or throw into commotion; hence, to dispute; contest; cause to be discussed: in this sense chiefly used in the past participle: as, a vexed (much discussed but unsettled) question.
  • Synonyms Annoy, Plague, etc. (see tease), provoke, gall, chafe. To disquiet.
  • To fret; be teased or irritated; feel annoyed, angry, or distressed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
  • transitive verb To make angry or annoyed by little provocations; to irritate; to plague; to torment; to harass; to afflict; to trouble; to tease.
  • transitive verb rare To twist; to weave.
  • intransitive verb rare To be irritated; to fret.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To trouble aggressively, to harass.
  • verb transitive To annoy, irritate.
  • verb transitive To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
  • verb transitive, rare To twist, to weave.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To be irritated; to fret.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress
  • verb subject to prolonged examination, discussion, or deliberation
  • verb cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
  • verb change the arrangement or position of
  • verb be a mystery or bewildering to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vexāre; see wegh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vēxāre ("disturb, agitate"). Replaced native Middle English grillen ("to vex, annoy") from Old English grillan.

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Examples

  • The word vex with us means to provoke, irritate, by petty provocations.

    Barnes New Testament Notes 1949

  • For she held that a greater power than Setebos had made the world, leaving Setebos merely to "vex" it; while he contends that whoever made the world and its weakness, did so for the pleasure of vexing it himself; and that this greater power, the "Quiet," if it really exists, is above pain or pleasure, and had no motive for such a proceeding.

    A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.) Sutherland Orr 1865

  • "vex," therefore, is the heightening of grieving by a provocation unto anger and indignation: which sense is suited to the place and matter treated of, though the word signify no more but to "grieve;" and so it is rendered by lupeo, Gen. xlv.

    Pneumatologia 1616-1683 1967

  • Such conundrums will vex analysts long into the future.

    Misleading Indicator 2009

  • That will really vex me when I publish in book form.

    New FIC...just because...BEDTIME STORY rabid1st 2009

  • Advice for the day: do not vex EVIL SORCEROUS QUEENS.

    End: Nigh 2009

  • No more does his infernal laugh go echoing among the hills, and no more does his fat moon-face rise up to vex me.

    MOON-FACE 2010

  • The retention of Interior Minister Mansour al Essawy, seen by some as embodying the previous regime, is likely to further vex demonstrators and diminish the intended impact of Mr. Sharaf's cabinet shake-up.

    Egypt's Leader Names New Ministers Matt Bradley 2011

  • There seemed no flies to vex him and he was languid with rest.

    All Gold Cañon 2010

  • Only those fools who cleave to the dread phrase "living in the moment" can avoid the waves or pin-pricks – it's a personality thing of unease that vex most of us.

    I'd be much happier if people stopped asking if I was happy | Rachel Cooke 2011

  • VEX stands for Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange.

    What is VEX and What Does it Have to Do with SBOMs? Derek Kruszewski 2023

  • Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange (VEX) is a data format that lets upstream software producers inform downstream software consumers whether a given vulnerability affects the software application in question.

    Reflections on Trusting VEX (or when humans can improve SBOMs) Adolfo García Veytia • November 23, 2022 2023

Comments

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  • Yet now, when Griefe and Ioy at once conspire

    To vexe my feeble minde with aduerse might,

    Reason suggests not words to my desire,

    Nor daines no Muse to helpe me to endite;

    So doth this ciuil strife of Passions strong,

    Both moue and marre the measures of my song.

    - Joseph Hall, 'The Kings Prophecie'.

    July 28, 2009

  • I append a more recent application, from Sean Paul's "Get Busy":

    'Yo sexy ladies want par with us

    In a the car with us

    Them nah war with us

    In a the club them want flex with us

    To get next to us

    Them nah vex with us'

    July 28, 2009