vexation

McMurtry’s stark assessment grew in part from a vexation that, despite his lifelong project to demythologize the cowboy, the ultimate American icon, his most celebrated book had the inverse effect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 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

He can’t tell if Romy’s vexation is genuine or just another part of their game, and tries to figure it out with a command.

From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2024

Even if you don’t care about bowling, his vexation is understandable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2023

Emma remained in a state of vexation too; but there was more indistinctness in the causes of her’s, than in his.

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

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

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

The current zest for new privacy laws is also likely to stall as lawmakers wrestle with the technical complexities and constitutional vexations sure to emerge with any legislation to control content on the internet.

From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2018

Bach’s vexations, his rages, his blind spots, even his hatreds, are our own.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 25, 2016

There are more cares and vexations coming on, but still they must be got through with at some rate.

From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume I (of III) by Philip Freneau