vex

English

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: vĕks, IPA^(key): /vɛks/

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• Rhymes: -ɛks

Verb

vex (third-person singular simple present vexes, present participle vexing, simple past and past participle vexed or (archaic) vext)

2. (transitive) To annoy, irritate.

   Synonyms: agitate, irk, irritate

   Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.

4. (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.

   Synonyms: afflict, grame, torment

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 151:

     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!

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XLI, page 64:

     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.

5. (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt  (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts xij:[1], folio clxxj, verso:

     In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ, to vexe them.

6. (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. , London: Henry Herringman, , →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom

7. (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
   • 1613, George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois:

     Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought

8. (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
   • 1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. , volume I, London: Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vex.

Derived terms

Related terms

• quake
• vexatious

Descendants

Translations

Noun

vex (plural vexes)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A trouble.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “vex”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

vex

1. Alternative form of wax (“wax”)

Etymology 2

Verb

vex

1. Alternative form of vexen

Old Norse

Verb

vex

1. first/second/third-person singular present active indicative of vaxa