What's the difference between provoke and vex?

Provoke


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition; hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.
  • (v. i.) To cause provocation or anger.
  • (v. i.) To appeal. [A Latinism]

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Zayani reportedly cited the political sensitivity of naturalising Sunni expatriates and wanted to avoid provoking the opposition," the embassy said.
  • (2) They can rarely be detected spontaneously but most often are provoked.
  • (3) Lactate-induced anxiety and symptom attacks without panic were seen more often in the groups with panic attacks, but a full-blown panic attack was provoked in only four subjects, all belonging to the groups with a history of panic attacks.
  • (4) It was an artwork that fired the imaginations of 2 million visitors who played with, were provoked by and plunged themselves into the curious atmosphere of The Weather Project , with its swirling mist and gigantic mirrors that covered the hall's ceiling.
  • (5) Following treatment with reserpine or alternatively with a combination of phenothiazines (Randolektil, Majeptil) a drug-induced parkinsonoid reaction was provoked in rats.
  • (6) Studies were conducted in isolated, buffer-perfused rat lungs to determine if prostaglandin (PG) E1 attenuated pulmonary edema provoked by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
  • (7) It could provoke the gravest risk, that all three rating agencies declare a credit event and then there are big contagion risks for other countries," he said.
  • (8) Carotid nerves block provoked transient ventilatory depression, decreasing VT by 46% and fR by 26%, followed by recovery to steady-state values in VT, fR and PETCO2.
  • (9) The 2nd experiment investigated memory for details of a provoking experience.
  • (10) In normal as well as in cirrhotic subjects somatostatin infusion provoked a marked reduction of the IRI plasma level and this was uninfluenced by subsequent glucagon administration.
  • (11) Koons provoked a bigger stir with the news that he would be showing with gallery owner David Zwirner next year in an apparent defection from Zwirner's arch-rival Larry Gagosian, the world's most powerful art dealer.
  • (12) Pain relieved by antacids, age above 40 years, previous peptic ulcer disease, male sex, symptoms provoked by berries, and night pain relieved by antacids and food were found to predict organic dyspepsia with a sensitivity and specificity of approximately 70%, when applied on the observed material.
  • (13) Monosodium glutamate (MSG) taken per os has been found to stimulate gastric secretion provoked by pentagastrin.
  • (14) The higher degree of tachycardia in conscious dogs provoked by clenbuterol is a result of a reflex reaction to the vasodilation analogous to that of salbutamol.
  • (15) In some of the 10 patients who tolerated cow's milk challenge clinically there was an increase in both IgA- and IgM-containing cells suggestive of a local immunological reaction although no clinical intolerance was provoked and other immunological signs were weak or absent.
  • (16) They can genuinely believe their partner provoked them to commit the abuse, just so they could get them in trouble.
  • (17) After reviewing the immunological anomalies provoked by the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) as well as their implications in pulmonary pathology, the authors enumerate the diagnostic and therapeutic methods currently available in the treatment of patients suffering from AIDS and pulmonary diseases.
  • (18) Coronary spasm was provoked by ergonovine maleate in four of 12 patients in group A (33%) and in three patients in group B (18%).
  • (19) Similar areas provoked by exercise or atrial pacing represent the site of acute ischaemia.
  • (20) Insulin-induced hypoglycemia provokes polyribosome disaggregation and accumulation of monomeric ribosomes in the brain of rats with hypoglycemic paresis and coma.

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.