Word.ws English Dictionary

vexing

vexing is the present participle and gerund of vex.

Meaning of vex

Verb

vex (third-person singular simple present vexes, present participle vexing, simple past and past participle vexed or (archaic) vext)

  1. (transitive) To annoy, irritate.
    • Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
  2. (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
    • I will not again vex her ear with words of love, however true, however deep: ours is an evil destiny, and we may not control it!1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 151
    Synonyms:
    afflict, grame, torment
  3. (archaic, transitive) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
    • In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregaciõ, to vexe them.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts xij:[1], folio clxxj, verso
  4. (rare, transitive) To twist, to weave.
    • some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
    • Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought1613, George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
    Synonyms:
    chafe, fume
  6. (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
    • White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC

See all 7 meanings of vex

Adjective

vexing (comparative more vexing, superlative most vexing)

  1. Causing annoyance or pain; irritating.

Noun

vexing (plural vexings)

  1. vexation
    • Many unkindnesses as well as (one feels) many liberties and general vexings, were required to move her to this.2002, Harold Bloom, American Women Poets, 1650-1950

Forms of vexing

Adjective
comparativemore vexing
superlativemost vexing
Noun
pluralvexings

Origin of vexing

From Middle English vexynge (“harassment”); equivalent to vex + -ing.

Words formed from vexing

Questions about vexing

What does vexing mean?
Vexing means causing annoyance or pain; irritating.
What is vexing the present participle and gerund of?
Vexing is the present participle and gerund of vex.
What part of speech is vexing?
Vexing can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near vexing in the dictionary

  1. vexillology
  2. vexillophile
  3. vexillophiles
  4. vexillum
  5. vexils
  6. vexing
  7. vexing glass
  8. vexingly
  9. vexingness
  10. vexings
  11. vexsome

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vexing (page history and authors); vex (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “vexing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vexing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.