vexation
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Etymology
From Late Middle English vexacioun, vexation (“physical suffering; act of inflicting trouble (specifically through unjustified legal action); anxiety, mental distress; mental disturbance”),[1] 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”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷog- (“to shake; to swing”). By surface analysis, vex + -ation (suffix denoting an action or process or its result, or a quality or state). Doublet of quake.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /vɛkˈseɪʃn̩/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /vɛkˈseɪʃən/
- Rhymes: -eɪʃən
- Hyphenation: vex‧at‧ion
Noun
vexation (countable and uncountable, plural vexations)
- (uncountable) The action of vexing, annoying, or irritating someone or something; (countable) an instance of this.
- 1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Psalmes LV:2–3, folio 246, recto, column 2:
- […] 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.
- 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC, page 6:
- I ſtill had hopes, my long vexations paſt, / Here to return—and die at home at laſt.
- (uncountable) The action of physically annoying or irritating a person or an animal; (countable) an instance of this; also, a physical discomfort or disorder.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], signature F3, verso:
- 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.
- 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, verso:
- O Rome, in vvhat a ſickneſſe art thou fall'n! / Hovv dangerous, and deadly! vvhen thy head / Is drovvn'd in ſleepe, and all thy body feu'ry! / No noiſe, no pulling, no vexation vvakes thee, […]
- (law, uncountable) The action of vexing or annoying someone by bringing unjustified legal proceedings against them; (countable) an instance of this.
- (uncountable) The state of being vexed, annoyed, or irritated; annoyance, irritation; also, disappointment, discontentment, unhappiness; (countable) an instance of this.
- 1782, [Frances Burney], “A Perplexity”, in Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son […], and T[homas] Cadell […], →OCLC, book III, page 22:
- "Indeed you perplex me intolerably;" cried Cecilia, vvith ſome vexation, "VVhy, Sir, vvill you not be more explicit?"
- 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 227:
- All was safe and prosperous; and as the removal of one solicitude generally makes way for another, Emma, being now certain of her ball, began to adopt as the next vexation Mr. Knightley's provoking indifference about it.
- 1887, John Ruskin, “Of Age”, in Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume II, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, page 19:
- […] I spoke of the constant vexation I suffered because I could not draw better.
- 1918 September, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter I, in My Ántonia, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, book V (Cuzak’s Boys), page 376:
- He clenched his fists in vexation and looked up at her impetuously.
- 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LV, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 290:
- He gave the doctor a look of vexation. He was surprised to see him, and resented the intrusion.
- (uncountable) The state of being mentally distressed or troubled.
- 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes j:[14], folio xlvij, recto, column 2:
- Thus I haue conſidered all the thinges that come to paſſe vnder the Sõne, ⁊ lo, they are all but vanitie ⁊ vexacion of mynde.
- 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Seconde Booke of the Fyrste Decade to Ascanius Phorcia [i.e., Ascanio Sforza], Vicounte Cardinall. &c.”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 1st decade, folio 8, recto:
- [M]en lyued ſimplye and innocentlye without inforcement of lawes, without quarellinge Judges and libelles, contente onely to ſatiſfie nature, without further vexation for knowledge of thinges to come.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signatures A2, recto – A2, verso:
- Full of vexation, come I, vvith complaint / Againſt my childe, my daughter Hermia.
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Prognosticks of Melancholy”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 4, member 3, subsection 1, pages 271–272:
- So ſome, ſaith Fracaſtorius [Girolamo Fracastoro], in fury, but moſt in despaire, ſorrovv, feare, and out of the anguiſh and vexation of their ſoules, offer violence to themſelues: for their life is vnhappy and miſerable.
- 1715, Robert South, “Covetousness Proved No Less an Absurdity in Reason, than a Contradiction to Religion, nor a More Unsure Way to Riches, than Riches Themselves to Happiness. Part II.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, page 479:
- And vvhether Poverty or Riches produce the Vexation, the Impreſſion it makes upon the Heart, is alike from both.
- 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, pages 140–141:
- Truly, I think thou hast, and if anything could add to my grief and vexation at this moment, it is, that when I am so deep in the mire, an ass like thee should place his clumsy hoof on my head, to sink me entirely.
- (uncountable) The state of being physically annoyed or irritated.
- (countable) A source of mental distress or trouble; an affliction, a woe; also, a source of annoyance or irritation; an annoyance, an irritant.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:woe
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 28, column 2:
- [S]hould ſhe thus be ſtolne avvay from you, / It vvould be much vexation to your age.
- 1854, [Charlotte Mary Yonge], chapter VII, in Heartsease or The Brother’s Wife […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son […], →OCLC, pages 217–218:
- She did harass Helen to give me up; but, after all, poor woman, I believe I have been a great vexation to her, and I cannot help being sorry for her.
- (obsolete, uncountable) The action of using force or violence on someone or something; (countable) an instance of this.
- 1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act IV, signature [H3], recto:
- '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.
- 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, Act II, scene v, signature F, recto:
- Name the vexations, and the Martyrizations / Of Metalls, in the VVorke.
- 1702, Flavius Josephus, “Of the Jewish Antiquities. Chapter VIII. The Life, and Laws of Moses.”, in Roger L’Estrange, transl., The Works of Flavius Josephus: […], London: […] Richard Sare […], →OCLC, 4th book (From the Year of the World 2455 to 2493), page 94:
- Let No Ground be ſovved that is Planted vvith Vines; for the Earth hath enough to do to Attend the Services of That Plant, vvithout the Superfluous Vexations of the Plovv over and above.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
action of vexing, annoying, or irritating someone or something; an instance of this
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action of physically annoying or irritating a person or an animal; an instance of this
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action of vexing or annoying someone by bringing unjustified legal proceedings against them; an instance of this
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state of being mentally distressed or troubled
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state of being physically annoyed or irritated
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References
- “vexāciǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “vexation, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024; “vexation, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
French
Middle English
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