Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. The act of annoying, irritating, or vexing.
- n. The quality or condition of being vexed; annoyance.
- n. A source of irritation or annoyance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. The act of annoying, vexing, or irritating.
- n. The state of being vexed or irritated.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed; agitation; disquiet; trouble; irritation.
- n. The cause of trouble or disquiet; affliction.
- n. A harassing by process of law; a vexing or troubling, as by a malicious suit.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of vexing, annoying, troubling, grieving, or distressing; specifically, a harassing under forms of law; a troubling, annoying, or vexing by legal process, as by a malicious suit.
- n. The state of being vexed, irritated, grieved, or distressed; irritation; sorrow; grief; annoyance.
- n. A cause of irritation, annoyance, distress, sorrow, or grief; affliction.
- n. Synonyms Anger, Vexation, Indignation, etc. (see anger), Chagrin, etc. (see mortification); trouble, exasperation, chagrin, petulance.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed
- n. anger produced by some annoying irritation
- n. the act of troubling or annoying someone
- n. something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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The power of righteous vexation is what keeps so many old Democrats hanging on in nursing homes long past the time they should have kicked off.
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But, when he cometh back from his journey, all will not be save well458: so go ye to your shops and sell and buy, for this vexation is removed from you.
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Their doubt is, in part, determined; and yet their vexation is increased by another messenger, who brings them word that their prisoners are preaching in the temple (v. 25): "Behold, the men whom you put in prison, and have sent for to your bar, are now hard by you here, standing in the temple, under your nose and in defiance of you, teaching the people."
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
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In this regard, Professor Albert Abel, of the University of Toronto Law School, and a distinguished authority on public administration, wrote four years ago that as for individuals, "the harm (of disclosure) may be economic, as where preliminary investigations into the management of a company or the wholesomeness of a product are under way; in such cases, even an ultimate clean bill of health would probably not save the enterprise from grave loss and the authorities quite properly do not want to reveal such matters past or present ... the individual's interest in being free from shame and vexation is not to be sacrificed to a mere general right to know."
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They throw themselves upon the ground, in vexation at their troubles, and there they lie at the head of all the streets, complaining to all that pass by (Lam.i. 12), pining away for want of necessary food; there they lie like a wild bull in a net, fretting and raging, struggling and pulling, to help themselves, but entangling themselves so much the more, and making their condition the worse by their own passions and discontents.
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Another vexation was the occasional arrival of false prophets in a community where every man was expected to have a current supply of religious experiences always ready for circulation.
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The vexation was a real one, but this is the language of a petulant invalid, of a man to whom the grasshopper has become a burden.
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His vexation was the greater, that, if his conjecture were correct, it would place him in a difficult position towards the Belmonts.
The Bastonnais Tale of the American Invasion of Canada in 1775-76
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She had admired and esteemed Mr. Faulkland prodigiously; her vexation was the greater, in finding her expectations disappointed; and could I have been so unjust to the pretensions of another, or so indelicate in regard to myself, as to have overlooked Mr. Faulkland's fault, I knew my mother would be inflexible.
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Our labour is called the vexation of our heart (v. 22); it is to most a force upon themselves, so natural is it to us to love our ease.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
reesetee commented on the word vexation
There's WeirdNet, for one.
August 5, 2008
vanishedone commented on the word vexation
It's not that there's anything inaccurate about this WeirdNet definition; it just leaves me wondering what other kinds of irritation there are.
August 4, 2008