irritable

[ir-i-tuh-buhl]

adjective

1. easily irritated or annoyed; readily excited to impatience or anger.

   Synonyms: resentful, petulant, snappish

2. Physiology, Biology.,  displaying irritability.

3. Pathology.,  susceptible to physical irritation.

4. Medicine/Medical.,  abnormally sensitive to a stimulus.

irritable

/ ˈɪrɪtəbəl /

adjective

1. quickly irritated; easily annoyed; peevish

2. (of all living organisms) capable of responding to such stimuli as heat, light, and touch

3. pathol abnormally sensitive

Other Word Forms

• irritableness noun
• irritably adverb
• nonirritable adjective
• nonirritableness noun
• nonirritably adverb
• unirritable adjective
• unirritably adverb
• irritability noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of irritable¹

First recorded in 1655–65; from Latin irrītābilis, equivalent to irrītā(re) “to irritate ” + -bilis -ble

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The pills dulled her mind and made her irritable or sleepy.

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"I was so exhausted when I got home. I couldn't sleep. It was making me very irritable, because of the constant demands and never feeling like you're doing a good enough job."

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We are getting these dopamine hits and then our body tries to compensate for it and that puts us in a state where we are more irritable, more anxious, more depressed.

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"She had a bloated abdomen, was irritable and unable to eat anything because the foetuses were squashing her stomach," Dr Anand said.

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Some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others and can feel nauseous, anxious and irritable, and get headaches even at lower doses.

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Related Words

• annoyed 
• contentious 
• exasperated 
• fractious 
• petulant 
• prickly 
• resentful 
• surly 
• testy