irritability
[ir-i-tuh-bil-i-tee]
- the quality or state of being irritable.
- Physiology, Biology. the ability to be excited to a characteristic action or function by the application of some stimulus: Protoplasm displays irritability by responding to heat.
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Origin of irritability
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for irritability
Contemporary Examples
Her irritability became more pronounced and she was fired from her job with a periodontic practice in Hamden.
But Carey may have been occasionally hampered by an irritability that is also common among those with hypomania.
It revealed the irritability of a man accustomed to being in control who's watching his plans fall apart in public.
Less outdoor and active play time as the weather gets colder leads to an increase in irritability or anxiety in all children.
Signs included muscular aches and pains, headaches, inability to relax, and irritability.
Historical Examples
His eccentricity was a combination of absent-mindedness and irritability.
The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 (of 2)Harry Furniss
The work of vegetation begins first in the irritability of the bark and leaf-buds.
Essays, First SeriesRalph Waldo Emerson
It was impressive riding to those who knew the filly's irritability, uncertainty.
Garrison's FinishW. B. M. Ferguson
The irritability of the one active cell subsided, that of the others was aroused.
The Paliser caseEdgar Saltus
Did you notice any symptoms of mental disturbance or irritability about him at any time?
The Shrieking PitArthur J. Rees
Word Origin and History for irritability
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
irritability
(ĭr′ĭ-tə-bĭl′ĭ-tē)- The capacity to respond to stimuli.
- Abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli of an organism, organ, or body part.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.