What's the difference between afflict and vex?

Afflict


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To strike or cast down; to overthrow.
  • (v. t.) To inflict some great injury or hurt upon, causing continued pain or mental distress; to trouble grievously; to torment.
  • (v. t.) To make low or humble.
  • (p. p. & a.) Afflicted.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It afflicted 312,000 people and claimed 3200 lives.
  • (2) Similar tensions afflict the US political scene, where anti-immigrant and anti-trade rhetoric have been prominent from the start of the current presidential election round.
  • (3) The treatment of the handicapped is discussed in the light of the alterations by which they are most commonly afflicted.
  • (4) However, we very often noted certain characteristics of personality structure and social attitude in the patients afflicted with the disease.
  • (5) A child afflicted with atopic dermatitis developed a Kaposi-Juliusberg's syndrome.
  • (6) By comparison, our patient was afflicted at a considerably older age.
  • (7) Above all, MPs should vote to stop needless misery for families afflicted by this rare but terrible disorder.
  • (8) A significant part of his work on surgery consists of early descriptions of neurosurgical diagnosis and treatment, including the surgical treatment of head injuries and skull fractures, spinal injuries and dislocations, hydrocephalus and subdural effusions, headache, and many other medical afflictions.
  • (9) A total of 65 students and one female teacher were afflicted with an unusual illness following alleged inhalation of a 'gas' in the school.
  • (10) Caucasians were almost exclusively afflicted by this form of cancer (93% of this series).
  • (11) Of those who died before the age of 83, 11 per cent were afflicted with dementia, with a further 4 per cent in the early stages, and 17 per cent had other mental problems.
  • (12) The life within a family of a Rett syndrome child is usually in a constant state of changing emotion due to the overwhelming responsibility of caring for the afflicted child and meeting the needs of the remaining family.
  • (13) A combination of techniques is necessary to diagnose, and both surgical and medical approaches are needed to treat this often distressingly persistent affliction.
  • (14) Glomerulonephritis caused end-stage renal disease in Navajos at a rate at least 1.8 times that in US whites and afflicted a much younger population.
  • (15) The observation of a young north african afflicted with a tic disorder suggests an underlying meaning in the apparently confused motoric discharges, thanks to psychodrama and to ethnopsychoanalytic consultations with the family.
  • (16) None of those concerns, though, afflicted Jeremy Darroch, the chief executive of BSkyB, who emailed Sky News staff telling them the compromise was a "good outcome" that would maintain "long-term continuity".
  • (17) Using brains of English setter dogs afflicted with a form of this disorder, the autofluorescent storage granules have been isolated and subjected to extraction with chloroform-methanol.
  • (18) Other afflictions, such as broncho-pulmonary cancer, are beginning to cause problems.
  • (19) Physical medicine and rehabilitation measures are important components of the challenging treatment of patients of all age groups who are afflicted with severe arthritis.
  • (20) Since 1985, we have provided coordinated DNA-based and cytogenetic prenatal analysis for couples at risk for offspring afflicted with the fragile X [fra(X)] syndrome.

Vex


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To to/s back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
  • (v. t.) To make angry or annoyed by little provocations; to irritate; to plague; to torment; to harass; to afflict; to trouble; to tease.
  • (v. t.) To twist; to weave.
  • (v. i.) To be irritated; to fret.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) De Boer's successor's first tasks will be to keep the US aboard the negotiations and to clear up the vexed question of the legal status of the Copenhagen accord , the deal struck at Copenhagen by a small group but not endorsed by a majority of countries.
  • (2) There is also the vexed question of what should be the legal form of any Paris agreement, a subject likely to keep negotiators up late into the night at the conference, and some anxiety among the hosts over whether the text of a deal can be formulated in due time.
  • (3) But the bigger question, the one that has vexed historians, biographers and holocaust experts for eight decades, is why she was there.
  • (4) Cs (2 mM) reduced diastolic depolarization (DD) at different [Ca]O and in 10.8 mM [Ca]O revealed an oscillatory potential (VOS) and the decay of a prolonged depolarization (Vex).
  • (5) The past few days have been vexing ones for reporting guidelines, voluntary or legal.
  • (6) The present data also highlighted the vexed relationship between stress and seizure control, which needs to be further investigated.
  • (7) Another vexed national question in the coming months will be this one: who is the most worthy winner of BBC Sports Personality of the Year?
  • (8) Delivery of monoclonal antibodies to solid tumors is a vexing problem that must be solved if these antibodies are to realize their promise in therapy.
  • (9) Pathologists without considerable experience in the diagnosis of bone tumors find this question especially vexing.
  • (10) Caffeine (5 mM) abolishes Vos and Ios and increases Vex and Iex (as DOXO does), and adding DOXO slightly increased Vex and Iex.
  • (11) Posttraumatic joint stiffness is particularly vexing in the small joints.
  • (12) In this spirit, a vignette is offered from a clinical area in which questions of "health" and "illness" are particularly vexing at present.
  • (13) Some might argue that our eyes weren't quite on the ball back in '89: never mind the cataclysmic political upheaval in eastern Europe – the results of which still echo around the world – let's devote ourselves to a page concerned with vexed questions such as: why is water wet?
  • (14) The draft provides scant details on the vexed subject of accountability for emission reduction programmes.
  • (15) Nowhere was the commission’s balancing act more finely weighted than on the vexed question of bioenergy, which Cañete admitted was “a clear problem”.
  • (16) The top Chinese negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, said there was also a possibility of advances on the vexed issued of transparency – how to monitor, report and verify each nation's emissions to ensure they are honouring their pledges.
  • (17) But now it’s Isis who are the insurgents,” leaving the peshmerga with the vexing challenge of defending and holding territory.
  • (18) On the vexed issue of longer term finance, the Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi presented an offer to reduce developing country demands by 75% to $100bn a year from 2020, in return for guarantees of how the money would be distributed.
  • (19) Discussed here are some contours of the vexing problem of adequate minority participation in the health professions and a brief discussion of some programs that appear to be working.
  • (20) After the creed and some Benjamin Britten, and a blessing and a long round of applause, the man charged with holding together the fractious global Anglican communion as it struggles with the vexed issues of women bishops and same-sex marriage processed out of the cathedral and into the bitterly cold spring afternoon.

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