irritate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to excite to impatience or anger; annoy.
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Physiology, Biology. to excite (a living system) to some characteristic action or function.
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Pathology. to bring (a body part) to an abnormally excited or sensitive condition.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to annoy or anger (someone)
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(tr) biology to stimulate (an organism or part) to respond in a characteristic manner
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(tr) pathol to cause (a bodily organ or part) to become excessively stimulated, resulting in inflammation, tenderness, etc
Related Words
Irritate, exasperate, provoke mean to annoy or stir to anger. To irritate is to excite to impatience or angry feeling, often of no great depth or duration: to irritate by refusing to explain an action. To exasperate is to irritate to a point where self-control is threatened or lost: to exasperate by continual delays and excuses. To provoke is to stir to a sudden, strong feeling of resentful anger as by unwarrantable acts or wanton annoyance: to tease and provoke an animal until it attacks.
Other Word Forms
- irritator noun
Etymology
Origin of irritate
1525–35; < Latin irrītātus, past participle of irrītāre to arouse to anger, excite, aggravate, equivalent to irritā- v. stem + -tus past participle suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But if I let that idea have any room and gave it any consideration, it would follow up with some bigger, harder questions that were just plain irritating.
From Literature
He blinked furiously, trying to wash the dirt away but his eye felt scratchy and irritated.
From Literature
Taufic Suleman, a painter and decorator from Ghana, felt "irritated" when the foreign minister announced that IShowSpeed, who grew up in the US but has a Ghanaian mother, had been approved for a passport.
From BBC
Even the flickering fluorescent light didn’t irritate him very much.
From Literature
Jeb had irritated me some over the last few days, but I was disappointed to find the place was deserted.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
