irritate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to excite to impatience or anger; annoy.
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Physiology, Biology. to excite (a living system) to some characteristic action or function.
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Pathology. to bring (a body part) to an abnormally excited or sensitive condition.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to annoy or anger (someone)
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(tr) biology to stimulate (an organism or part) to respond in a characteristic manner
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(tr) pathol to cause (a bodily organ or part) to become excessively stimulated, resulting in inflammation, tenderness, etc
Synonym Usage
Irritate, exasperate, provoke mean to annoy or stir to anger. To irritate is to excite to impatience or angry feeling, often of no great depth or duration: to irritate by refusing to explain an action. To exasperate is to irritate to a point where self-control is threatened or lost: to exasperate by continual delays and excuses. To provoke is to stir to a sudden, strong feeling of resentful anger as by unwarrantable acts or wanton annoyance: to tease and provoke an animal until it attacks.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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irritatesimple
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irritatessimple
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have irritatedperfect
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has irritatedperfect
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am irritatingprogressive
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are irritatingprogressive
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is irritatingprogressive
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have been irritatingperfect progressive
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has been irritatingperfect progressive
Past
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irritatedsimple
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had irritatedperfect
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was irritatingprogressive
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were irritatingprogressive
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had been irritatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of irritate
1525–35; < Latin irrītātus, past participle of irrītāre to arouse to anger, excite, aggravate, equivalent to irritā- v. stem + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
To irritate is to cause an unsettling reaction, whether it's of the body or the nerves. You can irritate someone by talking too loudly on your cellphone in public. You can also irritate your skin, causing a rash or redness. To irritate is to disturb — either physically or psychologically. When you have an allergic reaction to something, you irritate or disturb the body. When you have an allergic reaction to your kid brother, he is probably irritating you with his annoying habits. And what is the result of something irritating? An irritation of course.
Vocabulary lists containing irritate
Because of Winn-Dixie
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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.
See Examples For:
Inhaling MMA can irritate the lungs and, at high levels of exposure, can cause severe respiratory distress and hospitalization; long-term exposure has been linked to serious organ damage.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
That kind of dust is known to irritate the airways making it easier for bacteria to go from harmlessly sitting there to invading the body.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
In larger amounts, it can also irritate the body, sometimes leading to skin rashes or digestive discomfort.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2026
Failing to pass the package would create uncertainty for Tesla shareholders and likely irritate Musk.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2025
After delivering a brief lecture on the vagaries of grammar and syntax, calculated to irritate Burr, Hamilton went on the offensive.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
But when it goes away, so do our nightly doses of Colbert’s affable clowning, the kind that irritates thin-skinned despots in a way other comics can’t quite match.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
B.J. irritates the other characters with yet another drum solo, the self-aware jokes about his self-centeredness would land better if “K-Pops!” wasn’t convinced that the audience wants as much of him on-screen as possible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
"You think - is this is how people are perceiving us? When they say nasty things about him or call me a gold-digger, it irritates me."
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
‘How do you come up with things to write about?” a young George Will once asked William F. Buckley Jr. That’s easy, said the National Review founder, “the world irritates me three times a week.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
The boys miss the next one, which irritates Brandon and makes Elouise smile.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
He remains in the Cy Young conversation, despite pitching only 85 ⅔ innings in the first half because of the Dodgers’ six-man rotation and a missed start stemming from an irritated left knee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
Some purist footballers are particularly irritated by a lack of grass fields, as they offer a different playing experience to the artificial turf or concrete surfaces most common in New York.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
As the drug is processed by the body and passed through urine it can cause the walls of the bladder to become irritated.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
The ambassador himself has irritated some European officials with his own public comments, and his efforts to build relationships aren’t always welcomed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Of course, this irritated him even more, but for some reason, despite his annoyance, he found himself a bit preoccupied by the smell coming from the skin on her hand.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Yes, this host of self-promoting reminders masked as birthday wishes had an artificial, irritating aspect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency after a stubborn warehouse fire at a cold storage facility sent irritating smoke across the region.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026
That WWE ring sees unexpected action late Sunday afternoon, while MMA fighter and professional annoying person Logan Paul is taping an especially irritating episode of his Impaulsive podcast.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
For nearly 60 years, “60 Minutes” has stood apart because of its stubborn independence and commitment to irritating powerful people.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2026
The others were trying to make it easy for him to keep up, but he could tell that the slow pace was irritating at least Bronden and Val.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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.
