rile

present singular third person riles · participle present riling · participle past riled · past riled

1. To stir or move from a state of calm or order.

   Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really rile me.

   3 more examples

   Money problems rile the underpaid worker every day.

   It riles me that she never closes the door after she leaves.

   “Boh!” said Tom, “don’t I know?—don’t make me too sick with any yer stuff,—my stomach is a leetle riled now;” and Tom drank half a glass of raw brandy.

   1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC

   Synonyms: aggravate, irritate, trouble, vex, aggravate, annoy, nettle, rankle

2. To make angry.

   Nothing riles an anti-mosque demonstrator more than being called a bigot.

   2010 August 30, Charlie Brooker, “Buzzwords for blowhards”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 30 May 2023

   2 more examples

   Riled by a decision that went against him, Ziv kicked his displaced boot at the assistant referee and, after a short consultation between the officials, he was given his marching orders and the loudest cheer of the night.

   2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2022

   Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis.

   2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025

   Synonyms: anger, affront, aggravate, anger, antagonize, awrath, burn up, cheese off