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
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Browns at Eagles The Browns got football fans all riled up last weekend, after Shedeur Sanders broke out in Charlotte for his unofficial NFL debut.—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2025 Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was also riled up over the docu.—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 12 Aug. 2025 In the study, Ned correctly surmises that Colum riled Dougal up into beating Malcolm so that Colum could be seen as the cooler head/better leader.—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 Aug. 2025 In the episode, the town of South Park riles up a protest against the president.—Jack Dunn, Variety, 24 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for rile
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