irascible

[ ih-ras-uh-buhl ]

/ ɪˈræs ə bəl /

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See synonyms for: irascible / irascibility / irascibleness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

easily provoked to anger; very irritable: an irascible old man.

characterized or produced by anger: an irascible response.

OTHER WORDS FOR irascible

1, 2 testy, touchy, peppery, choleric, short-tempered.

See synonyms for irascible on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR irascible

1, 2 calm, even-tempered.

See antonyms for irascible on Thesaurus.com

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His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of irascible

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English irascibel from Late Latin īrāscibilis, equivalent to Latin īrāsc- (stem of īrāscī “to grow angry”; equivalent to īr(a) ire + -ā- theme vowel + -sc- inchoative suffix + -ī infinitive ending; see -esce) + -ibilis -ible

synonym study for irascible

1, 2. See irritable.

OTHER WORDS FROM irascible

i·ras·ci·bil·i·ty, i·ras·ci·ble·ness, nouni·ras·ci·bly, adverbun·i·ras·ci·bil·i·ty, nounun·i·ras·ci·ble, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH irascible

erasable, irascible

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use irascible in a sentence

For all his egotism and irascibility, Churchill was a good man as well as a great one.
Boris Johnson’s Churchill Man Crush|Michael F. Bishop|November 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yet despite his engaging irascibility, Mamoon never quite emerges as a character in his own right.
A Novel About a Novelist ‘Like’ Naipaul|Edward Platt|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Pope was a member of the same coffee house club for a year, but his inborn irascibility eventually led him to drop out of it.
All About Coffee|William H. Ukers
The mental state is characterised at once by great indifference and undue irascibility.
Degeneracy|Eugene S. Talbot

Solicitor-General Hagerman spoke in a similar strain, but with less of irascibility.
The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion, Volume 1|John Charles Dent
I found him a man of extreme irascibility without adequate cause; hasty in action in hazardous cases to a degree that alarmed me.
The Lily of the Valley|Honore de Balzac
He gave way to an irascibility which he tried to check, and to ask with indifference, "Why did he come back?"
The March Family Trilogy, Complete|William Dean Howells

British Dictionary definitions for irascible

irascible

/ (ɪˈræsɪbəl) /

adjective

easily angered; irritable

showing irritabilityan irascible action

Derived forms of irascible

irascibility or irascibleness, nounirascibly, adverb

Word Origin for irascible

C16: from Late Latin īrascibilis, from Latin īra anger

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

irascible

OTHER WORDS FOR irascible

OPPOSITES FOR irascible

Origin of irascible

synonym study for irascible

OTHER WORDS FROM irascible

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH irascible

Words related to irascible

How to use irascible in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for irascible

Derived forms of irascible

Word Origin for irascible