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 WebThat 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 Every now and then a rumor can really rile up a fan base.—Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 24 Jan. 2024 But challenging the use of those words will equally rile others.—Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024 His fashion shows were events that people fought to get into, and the crowds who got in would be riled up into a near frenzy.—Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 Chewing on his mouthguard … thumping his fist on his chest ... waving his arms to rile up the crowd ... jawing with opposing players … gesturing to fans … arguing with officials … high stepping, arms flailing, into huddles.—Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Feb. 2024 Even with only a few seconds of a song, with no tantalizing visual component, Lil Nas X managed to rile up a subset of critics.—Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 8 Jan. 2024 Scores of police officers were injured by the mob of Trump's supporters riled by the Republican's false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.—Hunter Woodall, CBS News, 5 Jan. 2024 The findings do not mean that everyone should get riled up in order to achieve their goals.—Heather Lench, Scientific American, 21 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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