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 WebThe 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 In comments likely to rile Beijing, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro suggested on Monday that China should show the strength of its maritime claims through arbitration, rather than ambiguity.—Reuters, NBC News, 25 Mar. 2024 At both stations, his love of the outdoors inspired him to report on pollution and other environmental problems in ways that did not rile the stations’ advertisers.—Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024 In a move that riled House conservatives, McCarthy also struck a $1.2 billion side deal with Biden that top Democratic leaders, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and appropriation chairs from both chambers respected.—Marianna Sotomayor, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2024 Be cautious of taking on too much while Mars riles up Jupiter.—USA TODAY, 27 Feb. 2024 But his profanity would rile up his supporters in negative ways.—Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2024 Lastly, Orban seems to be using the standoff to play to populist sentiment at home and rile up E.U. skeptics ahead of European elections in the spring.—Beatriz Ríos, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024 That was more than enough to get Spears fans riled up about Timberlake, whose reputation had already taken a few knocks in recent years.—Herb Scribner, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 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.
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