irritable
Americanadjective
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easily irritated or annoyed; readily excited to impatience or anger.
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Physiology, Biology. displaying irritability.
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Pathology. susceptible to physical irritation.
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Medicine/Medical. abnormally sensitive to a stimulus.
adjective
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quickly irritated; easily annoyed; peevish
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(of all living organisms) capable of responding to such stimuli as heat, light, and touch
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pathol abnormally sensitive
Related Words
Irritable, testy, touchy, irascible are adjectives meaning easily upset, offended, or angered. Irritable means easily annoyed or bothered, and it implies cross and snappish behavior: an irritable clerk, rude and hostile; Impatient and irritable, he was constantly complaining. Testy describes the same kind of behavior or response, particularly to minor annoyances: always on edge, testy and sharp in response; testy and petulant, resenting any interruption. Touchy emphasizes oversensitivity and readiness to take offense, even when none is intended: especially touchy about any reference to obesity. Irascible means habitually angry or easily aroused to anger: an irascible tyrant, roaring at employees for the slightest error.
Other Word Forms
- irritability noun
- irritableness noun
- irritably adverb
- nonirritable adjective
- nonirritableness noun
- nonirritably adverb
- unirritable adjective
- unirritably adverb
Etymology
Origin of irritable
First recorded in 1655–65; from Latin irrītābilis, equivalent to irrītā(re) “to irritate ” + -bilis -ble
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.
Children of mothers with untreated depression had a higher risk of developing digestive conditions, including nausea and vomiting, functional constipation, colic, and irritable bowel syndrome.
From Science Daily
A person may also become extremely confused and paranoid, easily upset, moody and irritable.
From MarketWatch
This imbalance has been linked to long-term conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and anxiety and depression.
From Science Daily
"He went from being confident, energetic, and present to being withdrawn, irritable, forgetful - and he just seemed to be constantly in pain," she said.
From BBC
I follow him to our darkened compartment, which is already occupied by three sleeping soldiers, a stout nun, and an irritable hen.
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.
