irritate implies an often gradual arousing of angry feelings that may range from mere impatience to rage.
constant nagging that irritated me greatly
exasperate suggests galling annoyance and the arousing of extreme impatience.
his exasperating habit of putting off needed decisions
nettle suggests a sharp but passing annoyance or stinging.
your pompous attitude nettled several people
provoke implies an arousing of strong annoyance that may excite to action.
remarks made solely to provoke her
rile implies inducing an angry or resentful agitation.
the new work schedules riled the employees
peeve suggests arousing fretful often petty or querulous irritation.
a toddler peeved at being refused a cookie
Examples of rile in a Sentence
Her comments riled the professor.
one sure way to rile me is to keep yelling for me
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Zegler further riled the faithful by comparing the cartoon prince’s pursuit of Snow White to stalking.—Kim Willis, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2025 The film also riled conservatives such as Senator Jesse Helms and the Rev. Donald Wildmon.—Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2025 And The Brutalist gets an awful lot wrong…Brady Corbet riled the architecture world by playing fast and loose with his interpretation of brutalism, the Bauhaus, postwar immigration and the basic process of architecture itself.—Matt Shaw, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025 Following the shocking news that Amazon MGM Studios has taken full creative control of the 007 franchise, Bezos riled up the fandom on X by asking his 6.8 million followers for their thoughts on who should succeed Daniel Craig as the world’s most famous movie secret agent.—Zack Sharf, Variety, 20 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for rile
Share