different between botheration vs vexation

English

Etymology

From bother +? -ation (suffix indicating an action or process, or its result).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?ð???e??n?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?ð???e??(?)n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: bo?ther?a?tion

Interjection

botheration (originally Ireland, dated, often humorous)

1. A mild expression of annoyance or exasperation: bother!
   • 1918, Katherine Mansfield, "Prelude" in Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback, 2002, p. 120

     Botheration! How she had crumpled her skirt, kneeling in that idiotic way.

   • 1955, C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew, Collins, 1998, Chapter 3,

     "Blast and botheration!" exclaimed Digory. "What's gone wrong now? [...]"

Translations

Noun

botheration (countable and uncountable, plural botherations) (originally Ireland, dated, often humorous)

1. (uncountable) The state of being bothered; annoyance, vexation.

   Synonyms: irritation; see also Thesaurus:annoyance

   • 1803, William Blake, Letter to his brother James Blake dated 30 January, 1803, in The Poetry and Prose of William Blake, edited by David V. Erdman, New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1970, p. 696,

     I write in great haste & with a head full of botheration about various projected works [...]

   • 1982, Saul Bellow, The Dean's December, New York: Pocket Books, 1983, Chapter 4, p. 59,

     At home he read too many papers. He was better off without his daily dose of world botheration, sham happenings, without newspaper phrases.

2. (countable) An act of bothering or annoying.
3. (countable) A person or thing that causes bother, inconvenience, trouble, etc.

   Synonym: nuisance

   • 1954, Peter De Vries, The Tunnel of Love, New York: Popular Library, Chapter Six, p. 63,

     [...] the by-products and botherations that go with pleasures make it hardly worth it. Sex is supposedly life's greatest pleasure and look what it gives you.

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Middle English vexacioun, from Old French vexacion, from Latin vex?ti?; synchronically analyzable as vex +? -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v?k?se???n/
• Hyphenation: vex?a?tion

Noun

vexation (countable and uncountable, plural vexations)

1. The act of annoying, vexing, or irritating.
2. The state of being vexed or irritated.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 55

     He gave the doctor a look of vexation. He was surprised to see him, and resented the intrusion.

Related terms

• vex
• vexed
• vexing
• vexatious

Translations

Anagrams

• vanoxite

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v?k.sa.sj??/

Noun

vexation f (plural vexations)

1. insult
2. humiliation
3. harassment

Related terms

• vexant
• vexatoire
• vexer

Further reading

• “vexation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Noun

vexation

1. Alternative form of vexacioun