different between inflame vs vex

English

Etymology

From Middle English inflammen, enflamen, enflaumen, from Old French enflammer (“to inflame”), from Latin inflamm? (“to kindle, set on fire”, verb), from in (“in, on”) + flamma (“flame”), equivalent to in- +? flame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?fle?m/
• Rhymes: -e?m

Verb

inflame (third-person singular simple present inflames, present participle inflaming, simple past and past participle inflamed)

1. (transitive) To set on fire; to kindle; to cause to burn, flame, or glow.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To kindle or intensify (a feeling, as passion or appetite); to excite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat.

   to inflame desire

   • 1690, John Dryden, Creator Spirit! by whose aid

     But, O inflame and fire our hearts.

   • 2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera:

     The long-awaited verdict could inflame tension in the Southeast Asian country and have far-reaching implications in the politically divided kingdom.

3. (transitive) To provoke (a person) to anger or rage; to exasperate; to irritate; to incense; to enrage.
4. (transitive) To put in a state of inflammation; to produce morbid heat, congestion, or swelling, of.

   to inflame the eyes by overwork

5. To exaggerate; to enlarge upon.

   • A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes.

   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

     As you say, we passengers are to be taxed to pay all these fineries. I have often seen a good sideboard, or a marble chimney-piece, though not actually put in the bill, inflame a reckoning confoundedly.

6. (intransitive) To grow morbidly hot, congested, or painful; to become angry or incensed.

Synonyms

• provoke
• fire
• kindle
• irritate
• exasperate
• incense
• enrage
• anger
• excite
• arouse

Related terms

• inflammable
• inflammatory
• inflammation

Translations

Further reading

• inflame in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• inflame in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• feminal

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ami

Verb

inflame

1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of inflamar
2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present subjunctive of inflamar
3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of inflamar
4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of inflamar

Spanish

Verb

inflame

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of inflamar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of inflamar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of inflamar.

English

Etymology

From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin v?x?re (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Displaced native Middle English grillen (“to vex, annoy”) from Old English grillan. Doublet of quake.

Pronunciation

• enPR: v?ks, IPA^(key): /v?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Verb

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

1. (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
2. (transitive) To annoy, irritate.

3. (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
4. (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.

   • some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
   • 1613, George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois

     Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought

6. (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vex.

Synonyms

• (to annoy): agitate, irk, irritate
• (to cause mental suffering): afflict, grame, torment

Derived terms

Related terms

• quake
• vexatious

Translations

Noun

vex (plural vexes)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A trouble.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “vex”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

vex

1. Alternative form of wax (“wax”)

Etymology 2

Verb

vex

1. Alternative form of vexen