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Vex vs Thwart - What's the difference?

vex | thwart |

As nouns the difference between vex and thwart

is that vex is (space|esa) while thwart is (nautical) a brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (breadth) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.

As a verb thwart is

to prevent; to halt; to cause to fail; to foil; to frustrate.

As an adjective thwart is

situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.

As an adverb thwart is

obliquely; transversely; athwart.

vex

English

Verb

(es)
  • To trouble aggressively, to harass.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XII:
    • In that tyme Herode the kynge layed hondes on certayne of the congregacion, to vexe them.
  • To annoy, irritate.
    • Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.
  • To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
  • (rare) To twist, to weave.
  • * Dryden
    • some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom
  • (obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
    • (Chapman)
  • To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • White curl the waves, and the vexed ocean roars.

    Quotations

    * (English Citations of "vex")

    Synonyms

    * (to annoy) agitate, irritate * (to cause mental suffering) afflict, torment

    Derived terms

    * vexed * vexer * vexingly * vexation * vexatious

    thwart

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To prevent; to halt; to cause to fail; to foil; to frustrate.
  • * South
    • The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other.
  • * , chapter=22
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black), title=Internal Combustion
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Arsenal 1-0 Everton , passage=Everton were now firmly on the back foot and it required some sharp work from Johnny Heitinga and Phil Jagielka to thwart Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen.}}
  • (obsolete) To move across or counter to; to cross.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
    • Swift as a shooting star / In autumn thwarts the night.

    Synonyms

    * See also * foil, frustrate, impede, spoil

    Derived terms

    * athwart * athwartships * thwarter * thwartsome

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (breadth) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.
    • A well made doughout canoe rarely needs a thwart .
  • (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
    • The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

    Related terms

    * beam

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
  • * Milton
    • Moved contrary with thwart obliquities.
  • (figurative) Perverse; crossgrained.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Obliquely; transversely; athwart.
    • (Milton)

    References