Other forms: vexed, vexing, vexes
To vex is to annoy or worry somebody. It vexed him, a vexed question, vexed by the delay.
A vexed question is one long argued over without resolution, which is the commonest use of the word now. In law, a vexatious claim is one brought to harass rather than to win, and courts can bar somebody from bringing more. Note that the Latin means to shake or disturb.
1verbvexTo annoy or worry somebody.
“The question of who had taken the money vexed him for weeks.”
vex is an annoying.
Latin vexare means to shake or disturb, from a root meaning to carry. Vehicle and convex come from related roots.
Middle English
vexen
English, today
vex
From Middle English vexen. From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vexō (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Displaced native dreċċan and gremman.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA