vexing
Americanadjective
-
irritating, provoking, or annoying.
Automatic file recovery reintroduced errors already corrected at the proofing stage—which was very vexing.
-
tormenting, troubling, or distressing.
She came to see racism as her country's most vexing problem.
Other Word Forms
- vexingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of vexing
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.
That’s why the recent spate of economic data has been so vexing for Wall Street.
From Barron's • Dec. 4, 2025
What is more vexing is diagnosing what the issue actually is.
From Slate • Nov. 18, 2025
What to do about vegetation like shrubs, plants and grasses within the first 5 feet of homes has proved more vexing.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2025
“The best way to solve the vexing problems of poverty, racism, and disinvestment is not by providing market-based microsolutions,” she pointed out.
From Salon • Oct. 23, 2025
His system was cumbersome and often vexing, but if the technicians were well trained, it was far better than no system at all.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
