noun
-
the act of vexing or the state of being vexed
-
something that vexes
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of vexation
1350–1400; Middle English vexacioun < Latin vexātiōn- (stem of vexātiō ), equivalent to vexāt ( us ) (past participle of vexāre to vex; see -ate 1) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Vexation is both something that causes annoyance and the state of mind that results from being annoyed. The test-taker next to you tapping her pencil is a vexation. You breaking her pencil in half makes her feel vexation. Vexation can also refer to something that causes anxiety and worry more than annoyance. When the parents of the kid you're babysitting are two hours late to return and aren’t answering their phones, that could be a vexation. You are less annoyed than worried. (Though, to be honest, you're still a little annoyed).
Vocabulary lists containing vexation
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Othello
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Grade 9, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Holly is already known to police because she’s in the habit of sneaking into the house where she grew up and sleeping there overnight, to the vexation of the current owners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
"You might be feeling a familiar vexation at the sight of these two formerly innocuous numerals," Dictionary.com said, addressing parents as it announced the winner this week.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2025
Strange, too, that so few books deal substantively with a near-universal vexation, by which I mean the tax system.
From New York Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
Even if you don’t care about bowling, his vexation is understandable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2023
I understand now that even a happy marriage can be a vexation, that it's a contract best renewed and renewed again, even quietly and privately—even alone.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Ahead of Sunday’s election for a new parliament and government, those vexations are being heard again as the European Union country’s two main parties, the center-left Socialists and the center-right Social Democrats, compete for power.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2022
He owns his theaters outright, a saving grace, though one of his biggest vexations is his property taxes, which, for the Alpine Cinemas alone, topped $316,000 this year, to his lasting chagrin.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2020
By now, the litany of vexations is well known: the jammed phone lines, the hours on hold, the online system that balks and crashes, the inexplicable responses to re-file and then re-file again.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 17, 2020
Bach’s vexations, his rages, his blind spots, even his hatreds, are our own.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 25, 2016
I have, after innumerable vexations, agreed with three houses, which are well esteemed here, to open a loan.
From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution (Volume VI) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
