vexatious

a 1650 vexation +‎ -ous

• IPA^(key): /vɛkˈseɪʃəs/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

vexatious (comparative more vexatious, superlative most vexatious)

1. Causing vexation or annoyance; teasing; troublesome.
   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 259:

     Although this letter is vexatious, I must not forget that my little entertainment has brought me a visiter in the Marquess of Wentworthdale, on an errand of no small moment, as the Countess of Rotheles may soon learn, to her surprise, for I shall, probably, see him at the Opera to-night.

2. (archaic) Full of trouble or disquiet

   Synonyms: harassed, distressed, annoyed, vexed

   • 1644, Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises, To My Son Kenelm Digby (preface):

     He leads a vexatious life.

3. (law, of an action) Commenced for the purpose of giving trouble, without due cause.

   a vexatious lawsuit

4. (law, of a party or entity) In the habit of starting vexatious litigation and therefore liable to have restraints placed on one's ability to access the courts.

   a vexatious litigant

• See also Thesaurus:annoying

• vexatiously
• vexatiousness

• vex
• vexation

• “vexatious”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “vexatious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.