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Vexation
Definitions
- 1 The action of vexing, annoying, or irritating someone or something; (countable) an instance of this. uncountable
"[…] I mourne in my prayer, and make a noiſe, / For the voyce of the enemie, & for the vexation of the vvicked, becauſe they haue broght iniquitie vpon me, & furiouſly hate me."
- 2 the act of troubling or annoying someone wordnet
- 3 The action of vexing, annoying, or irritating someone or something; (countable) an instance of this.; The action of physically annoying or irritating a person or an animal; (countable) an instance of this; also, a physical discomfort or disorder. uncountable
"And, gentle Puck, take this transformed ſcalpe, / From the heade of this Athenian ſvvaine [Nick Bottom]; / That hee, avvaking vvhen the other do, / May all to Athens backe againe repaire, / And thinke no more of this nights accidents, / But as the fearce vexation of a dreame."
- 4 something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness wordnet
- 5 The action of vexing, annoying, or irritating someone or something; (countable) an instance of this.; The action of vexing or annoying someone by bringing unjustified legal proceedings against them; (countable) an instance of this. uncountable
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- 6 anger produced by some annoying irritation wordnet
- 7 The state of being vexed, annoyed, or irritated; annoyance, irritation; also, disappointment, discontentment, unhappiness; (countable) an instance of this. uncountable
""Indeed you perplex me intolerably;" cried Cecilia, vvith ſome vexation, "VVhy, Sir, vvill you not be more explicit?""
- 8 the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed wordnet
- 9 The state of being vexed, annoyed, or irritated; annoyance, irritation; also, disappointment, discontentment, unhappiness; (countable) an instance of this.; The state of being mentally distressed or troubled. uncountable
"Thus I haue conſidered all the thinges that come to paſſe vnder the Sõne, ⁊ lo, they are all but vanitie ⁊ vexacion of mynde."
- 10 The state of being vexed, annoyed, or irritated; annoyance, irritation; also, disappointment, discontentment, unhappiness; (countable) an instance of this.; The state of being physically annoyed or irritated. uncountable
- 11 A source of mental distress or trouble; an affliction, a woe; also, a source of annoyance or irritation; an annoyance, an irritant. countable
"[S]hould ſhe thus be ſtolne avvay from you, / It vvould be much vexation to your age."
- 12 The action of using force or violence on someone or something; (countable) an instance of this. obsolete, uncountable
"'Tis Princely, vvhen a Tyranne doth oppoſe; / And is a fortune ſent to exerciſe / Your vertue, as the vvind doth try ſtrong trees: / VVho by vexation grovv more ſound, and firme."
Etymology
From Late Middle English vexacioun, vexation (“physical suffering; act of inflicting trouble (specifically through unjustified legal action); anxiety, mental distress; mental disturbance”), from Anglo-Norman vexacion, vexation, Middle French vexacion, vexation (“distress, suffering; harassment (specifically through unjustified legal action)”), and Old French vexacion, vexation (“distress, suffering; harassment”) (modern French vexation), and from their etymon Latin vexātiō (“shaking or similar violent movement; (causing of) agitation, distress, suffering; harassment, persecution; trouble”), from vexātus + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs). Vexātus is the perfect passive participle of vexō (“to shake or jolt violently; to annoy, harass; to persecute; to trouble violently”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-. By surface analysis, vex + -ation (suffix denoting an action or process or its result, or a quality or state). Doublet of quake.
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