irritate
Americanverb (used with object)
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irritates,
present (3rd person singular)
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irritated,
past participle, past
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irritating
present participle
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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)
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irritates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
irritated,
past participle, past
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irritating
present participle
verb
-
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:
Breathing air with high levels of NO2 can irritate airways, cause coughing, wheezing or make it difficult to breathe and worsen diseases like asthma.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Short-term exposure can irritate the lungs and nasal passages, and cause nausea and dizziness, said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, Orange County’s health officer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
It can irritate the lungs and trigger serious breathing problems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
And yet, a balancing act lies ahead because Beijing also "does not want to irritate Trump", she adds.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
This would irritate my father, who could not stand any noise, especially when he was tired from work, which was most of the time.
From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez
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
YouTube TV is already seeking rates similar to what bigger distributors Comcast and Charter pay, which irritates programmers, some of the people familiar with the matter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
The boys miss the next one, which irritates Brandon and makes Elouise smile.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
He was also irritated by Bensky’s suggestion that the book was not perfect as it was.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
In interviews, dozens of farmworkers reported suffering from nausea, burning eyes or irritated throats due to chemical-laced fields.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
"The band doesn't exist any more," he announces, sounding more irritated than sad.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Her in-laws had a different reaction: “We were showing them the house, and they got more irritated with every room — like, ‘You have books in here too?’
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
As irritated as I was by all this, deep down I was beginning to grasp what my parents already knew: no matter which path I chose, I'd be giving up something.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
She said it’s more irritating, for instance, to overhear social-media videos than to witness a face-to-face conversation at the same volume, because “personal listening devices are supposed to be personal.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
There is something uniquely irritating about being emotionally pursued by a corporation that has also failed to notice you moved away.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
They said the coverage of the Instagram re-post row had been "deeply irritating" but added that the review was not directly linked to that incident.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Letisha Lucas, a 33-year-old tourist from Canada -- which has its own wildfires happening -- said the smoke smell was immediately obvious on arrival in Madrid "and very irritating on the throat".
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Sometimes I find this to be quite irritating.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
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.
