List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 12

SYNONYMS: annoy, irritate, bother, irk, vex, provoke, aggravate, peeve, rile.
These verbs mean to disturb or disquiet a person so as to evoke moderate anger.

Annoy refers to mild disturbance caused by an act that tries one's patience: The noise annoyed the downstairs neighbors.
Irritate is closely related but somewhat stronger: Your interruptions only serve to irritate the entire staff.
Bother implies troublesome imposition: Hasn't he bothered them enough with his phone calls?
Irk connotes a wearisome quality: The city council's failure to take action on the legislation irked the community.
Vex applies to an act capable of bringing on anger or perplexity: Hecklers in the crowd asked irrelevant questions for the sole purpose of vexing the speaker.
Provoke implies a strong and often deliberate incitement to anger: Her behavior was enough to provoke an angel.
Aggravate is an approximate equivalent: Threats only served to aggravate people in such cases.
Peeve, somewhat informal in tone, suggests rather minor disturbance that produces a querulous, resentful response: The flippancy of your answer peeved me.
To rile is to upset one's equanimity and stir one up: It riled me no end to listen to such lies.