irritable
[ir-i-tuh-buhl]
adjective
easily irritated or annoyed; readily excited to impatience or anger.
Physiology, Biology. displaying irritability.
Pathology. susceptible to physical irritation.
Medicine/Medical. abnormally sensitive to a stimulus.
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RELATED WORDS
contentious, testy, petulant, resentful, fractious, surly, annoyed, prickly, exasperated, cantankerous, carping, choleric, complaining, cross, crotchety, disputatious, dissatisfied, dyspeptic, fiery, fretful
Nearby words
- irrigate,
- irrigation,
- irrigative,
- irriguous,
- irritability,
- irritable bowel syndrome,
- irritable heart,
- irritant,
- irritate,
- irritated
Origin of irritable
SYNONYMS FOR irritable
1. snappish, petulant, resentful. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for irritable
irritable
adjective
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
irritable
1660s, from French irritable and directly from Latin irritabilis "easily excited," from irritare (see irritate). Related: Irritably.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
irritable
[ĭr′ĭ-tə-bəl]
adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.