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 WebBefore the Jeddah race, a DJ bounced among fans, riling up the crowd with impromptu quizzes or throwing F1 merch, and some of the drivers passed by and signed shirts.—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024 Over the course of Trump's time in office, social media companies came under intense scrutiny over promoting false news, politicians' statements with no fact checking and divisive content that could have misled or riled up users — sometimes influenced by foreign actors.—Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 26 Apr. 2024 By the end of the half, the rookie was visibly riled up, due for a big half.—Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 14 Apr. 2024 Biden's unconditional backing for Israel in its war against Hamas has riled both groups and cost him support in Democratic primaries in key battleground states.—Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 3 Apr. 2024 Miyake was game, but the Apple team members pushed back, their American individualism riled.—The Editors, Robb Report, 28 Mar. 2024 In a world constantly riled up over politics, the task of formally opining on issues would be endless.—Pamela Paul, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024 Then, in late 2019, Muilenburg publicly speculated that the FAA would return the Max to service by December of that year, further riling the agency.—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 22 Feb. 2024 The warnings that Barnett claimed riled Boeing to retaliate against him, and that so worried his mom, have proven shockingly prescient.—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Share