Definition

Vexation refers to the feeling of being annoyed, frustrated or worried about something, which can cause irritation or distress.

Pronunciation

US English

UK English


See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage

Excerpts from News Articles

1

The grey versus red argument is vexed – Doran says it is “a myth”. The British subspecies of red squirrel had all but died out before the grey squirrel, from the US, or the Scandinavian red squirrel were introduced in the 19th century.

Logo 2023-04-12 The Guardian

2

It has been a vexing stretch for Augusta National, a club that ordinarily revels in brilliant weather during the Masters. The skies forced two stoppages of play on Friday, so when they cleared enough on Saturday for players to finish the second round and begin the third, it seemed a modest victory.

Logo 2023-04-08 The New York Times

3

“We depend on both countries,” says Dawisson Belém Lopes of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Deepening trade with China is unlikely to vex the United States.

Logo 2023-04-10 The Economist

4

Robert Franklin, chairman of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, would not reveal how he planned to vote but said that "most all external contacts that have reached out to me are vexed and opposed to the request of the archdiocese's application."

Logo 2023-04-11 Reuters

5

Its handpicked jurists are just beginning to carry out its publicly stated mission of rolling back Americans’ rights they insist are the product of liberal excesses. The deeper and more vexing obstacle is that the bucket is so immense and so zealously guarded by the GOP that, short of impeaching Thomas, would-be reformers face a daunting, multifaceted task in combating one of the most entrenched and perilous threats to our democracy — a profoundly corrupted court of last resort.

Logo 2023-04-04 MSNBC News

6

There was also the vexing matter of her speech at the upcoming Conservative party conference. It would be the climax of her party’s annual get-together, a chance for cabinet ministers, members of parliament and party activists to give a standing ovation and chant “Maggie!” They did so every year. But Thatcher agonized over the text. Behind her trademark armor-plated confidence, she fretted the speech would fall flat and disappoint her audience. She was already tormenting her speech writers with notes and revisions.

Logo 2023-04-07 Literary Hub

7

Logan does not apologize again, not really, until the end of last week’s episode, when he finally does so during a vexed confrontation in which three of his children, for once, have leverage. (They want to make him ask tech CEO Lukas Matsson, played by Alexander Skarsgard, to pay even more than agreed for the firm that they had each once hoped to run as Logan’s successor, but that he instead decided to sell.)

Logo 2023-04-10 The Washington Post

8

The issue of violent men refusing to attend their own sentencing hearing is a complex and vexing one. On the one hand, it can be argued that refusing to attend court where they are publicly sentenced for the crimes they committed is a means of retaining some semblance of control and power for one last time. On the other, their absence simply renders them cowards who are unable to face the consequences of their actions.

Logo 2023-04-04 The Independent

9

“If we look at the substance of recognition and Voice, there are vexing issues.”

Logo 2023-04-06 The Conversation

10

Augusta National has turned into a vexing place for Koepka, who signed with LIV Golf for a reported {$}100 million and became the first to win twice in the league’s first 10 events with last week’s victory in Orlando, Florida.

Logo 2023-04-10 Associated Press

11

"It's uncomfortable when we see the labor market weaken, but given how vexing inflation has been over the last two years, some softening of the labor market is necessary," said Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

Logo 2023-04-07 NPR

12

Unfortunately, the challenge for cable outfits is no longer as simple as getting people to stick around at the appointed hour. The industry has been absolutely shellacked by cord-cutting, as people drop TV bundles in favor of specific streaming services. The question vexing executives is what kind of stuff would cause people to pay a monthly subscription price.

Logo 2023-04-07 Politico

13

In our unforgiving age, where cyberspace pile-ons take the shape of the eviscerating mobs at public hangings, the question of whether we believe in atonement and rehabilitation is inescapable. For the prisoner-artists I meet, many jailed for crimes such as murder and armed robbery, the really vexing question is whether they can ever rebuild their reputations, still less have their names attached to artworks without their criminal pasts determining how they are seen.

Logo 2023-04-04 The Spectator

14

The lives of Vaishnavi and Malika — and the stories of their home states — illustrate the uneven transformation of India’s north and south, a gap that has widened since the 1980s and continues to vex Indian leaders and policymakers. Not only are southern states providing women better access to contraceptives and family planning services, experts say, but they’re also affording women better educations, more jobs and higher relative social status — crucial, intangible factors that have led to smaller family sizes and greater prosperity.

Logo 2023-04-14 The Washington Post

15

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s monthslong absence from the Senate to recover in California from shingles has become a vexing problem for Democrats who want to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal courts . Now there is some pressure from within her party, and her state, to resign.

Logo 2023-04-13 Associated Press

16

It was the beginning of a vexed journey on TV. She was building a body of work: the BBC reality show Britain’s Missing Top Model (in which eight women with disabilities competed to win a prize fashion magazine shoot); Licence to Kill, a BBC documentary about young drivers and road accidents (which won best current affairs film at the Royal Television Society awards in 2013).

Logo 2023-04-19 The Guardian

17

But it stays silent on the vexed question of what should be done with official gifts received before the rules were introduced in 1995.

Logo 2023-04-20 The Guardian

18

But those in the Middle East. Here’s a brief inventory, and it shows why American diplomacy remains essential in this vexed part of the world. Make sense of the news fast with our daily newsletter ArrowRight The Yemen civil war, one of the cruelest this century, appears to be inching toward a stable settlement — thanks to tireless mediation by U.

Logo 2023-04-18 The Washington Post

19

The vexation in Tallahassee comes as DeSantis has struggled to gain traction nationally after weathering weeks of criticism from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans ahead of his likely 2024 announcement.

Logo 2023-04-20 Politico

20

Many participants said that the nation is still vexed by race, still struggling mightily to find its way forward. But if there was tension or trepidation in bringing the descendants of all of these families together, it didn’t show. The mood instead was one of restoration and hope that in a time of rancor and divide, this gathering could inspire further reconciliation.

Logo 2023-04-22 The Washington Post

21

That same question has vexed Altman, Journey Colab’s chairman and former president of start-up accelerator Y Combinator, where his job was to notice “undervalued technology." That’s how he first came to studies of MDMA to treat PTSD.

Logo 2023-04-22 The Washington Post

22

Retirement is a vexed subject and little discussed in the UK, where there has always been a feeling among policymakers that a higher birthrate than most developed countries and buoyant levels of immigration – almost exclusively of working-age people – meant Britain was immune to a global problem with ageing.

Logo 2023-04-22 The Guardian

23

Army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan said he would facilitate the evacuation of American, British, Chinese and French citizens and diplomats from Sudan after speaking with the leaders of several countries that had requested help. The prospect has vexed officials as most major airports have become battlegrounds and movement out of the capital, Khartoum, has proven intensely dangerous.

Logo 2023-04-22 CNBC

24

The debate over policing power in St. Louis — a racially diverse, heavily Democratic city long vexed by violent crime — carries political and racial overtones like those that have roiled other cities and states this year. But data suggest neither state nor local control may make much difference when it comes to stemming homicides.

Logo 2023-04-23 Associated Press

25

Spotify, for instance, is a vast and vexing roulette for classical fans. The non-premium standard monthly plan is nonnegotiable if you intend to keep multimovement works intact and in sequence.

Logo 2023-04-26 The Washington Post

26

Indeed, it’s heartwarming to see Brits getting vexed over a cuppa; we are still a nation of tea lovers. George Orwell with his eleven golden rules for tea-making, would be proud. But until Twinings brings Lapsang back, here’s a handful of places you can try:

Logo 2023-04-26 The Spectator

27

What made for a compelling essay at that moment makes for an even better book. In Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, Dederer doesn’t arrive at some neat conclusion, because there are no easy answers to the vexing questions she wrangles with … Dederer… just keeps getting better and smarter.

Logo 2023-04-28 Literary Hub

28

The system has missed the warnings. Manning was going through intense personal experiences in Iraq as the leaks began; Snowden moved from being an eager employee when he worked at the CIA to an angry dissenter when he became a contractor for NSA. Schulte was seen by his CIA colleagues as “ vexing and obstreperous,” but he maintained access to secrets, according to a superb New Yorker profile by Patrick Radden Keefe.

Logo 2023-04-29 The Washington Post

29

Rabbi Harold Kushner, who never strayed from answering life's most vexing questions about loss, goodness and God, and by doing so, brought comfort to people across the world, died on Friday while in hospice care in Canton, Mass. He was 88.

Logo 2023-04-29 NPR

30

All the same, it won’t be the resolution of a prestige drama – now in its fourth and final season – that is vexing NewsCorp shareholders. The Fox Corporation share price plummeted after the Dominion settlement was announced, and the exit of Carlson this week has, perhaps, prevented a rebound.

Logo 2023-04-29 The Independent

31

This contemporary odalisque—which the French statesman Georges Clemenceau was to install in the Louvre in 1907—was called indecent by critics and the public. In his vexation , Manet left in August 1865 for Spain, but, disliking the food and frustrated by his total lack of knowledge of the language, he did not stay long.