vexed

adjective

ˈvekst 

: affected with, marked by, or causing trouble or vexation: such as

a

: feeling or showing irritation, annoyance, or distress

He had a vexed look, as if irritated at having to direct yet another … lost tourist to more celebrated Washington landmarks.

—Larry L. King

… I plainly perceived him to be extremely vexed at me …

—Herman Melville

b

: difficult and often frustrating to understand or deal with

a vexed question

Merchants such as the Polos sought to circumvent the vexed system of coins, with its inevitable confusion and debasement, by trading in gems such as rubies and sapphires and in pearls.

—Laurence Bergreen

But the coming months—when America will have to vote for or against China in matters of trade, proliferation and human rights—will severely test the White House's ability to manage a perpetually vexed relationship.

—Tom Post

Synonyms

• aggravated
• annoyed
• bothered
• exasperated
• galled
• irked
• irritated
• narked [British]
• peeved
• put out
• scunnered [chiefly Scottish]
• teed off

Examples of vexed in a Sentence

She was feeling somewhat vexed.

my dog was clearly vexed with me for having been gone all week, and hardly greeted me when I came home

Recent Examples on the Web

Rocking all-black and a bandana to cover his nose and mouth, Abel displays the same vexed anger as his controversial Tedros character from HBO’s The Idol, which had the plug pulled after one season. —Michael Saponara, Billboard, 25 Mar. 2024

One difference is that the political climate is more vexed. —Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2023

As clutches laid by those snakes failed to contain any crimson hatchlings, vexed breeders agreed that they’d been conned. —Rebecca Giggs, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024

The lead plaintiff of the suit is March and Ash, the retail arm of a California cannabis company, and offers a window into the vexed state of the legal weed business. —Ezra Marcus, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above