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Chafe

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(pronounced chayf)  verb

Definition

to become irritated, vexed, or annoyed; to feel impatient or suffer emotional strain.

Main Example

• With gas prices now averaging nearly $4 a gallon, Americans are once again chafing at the cost of a fill-up. "I feel like I'm being gouged!" is the refrain grumbled by many motorists interviewed while refueling their vehicles.

Workplace Examples

• I wouldn't be at all surprised if, under the surface, Alice still chafes at having to take orders from the far-less-experienced Celia.
• Comments like his don't bother me one bit. There was a time when I chafed at such criticism, but not anymore.

Other Examples

• a manager chafing over an employee's low productivity; conversely, an employee who chafes under the tight rules and rigid structure of a workplace environment
• a colleague urging you to not chafe at your reduced role following an organizational reshuffle; somebody chafing in a suit and tie because he very rarely has to put one on
• a severe winter storm and resulting flight delays at Chicago's busy O'Hare airport leaving hundreds of passengers chafing--unable to leave, they had to sleep overnight on the cold, hard terminal chairs and floors
• Until last year's elimination of Osama bin Laden, each time a new anti-U.S. message from the al Qaeda leader was aired, many Americans would chafe over his having escaped the 2001 bombing of his mountain hideout in Tora Bora.

© 2014 V.J. Singal
No part of this may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.

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