Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cause (someone) to feel impatient or angry; annoy: synonym: annoy.
- intransitive verb To make sore or inflamed.
- intransitive verb Physiology To cause a physiological response to a stimulus in (a cell, body tissue, or organism).
- intransitive verb To be a cause of impatience or anger.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To excite to resentment or anger; annoy; vex; exasperate: as, to be irritated by an officious or a tedious person.
- To excite to automatic action by external agency, as organic tissue; produce motion, contraction, or inflammation in by stimulation: as, to
irritate the skin by chafing or the nerves by teasing. - To give greater force or energy to; excite.
- Synonyms Provoke, Incense, etc. (see
exasperate ); fret, chafe, nettle, sting, annoy, gall, inflame, excite, anger, enrage. - Excited; exasperated; intensified.
- To render null and void.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Excited; heightened.
- transitive verb To increase the action or violence of; to heighten excitement in; to intensify; to stimulate.
- transitive verb To excite anger or displeasure in; to provoke; to tease; to exasperate; to annoy; to vex.
- transitive verb (Physiol.) To produce irritation in; to stimulate; to cause to contract. See
Irritation , n., 2. - transitive verb (Med.) To make morbidly excitable, or oversensitive; to fret
- transitive verb rare To render null and void.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
provoke impatience ,anger , ordispleasure . - verb transitive To
introduce irritability . - verb intransitive To
cause orinduce displeasure orirritation . - verb transitive To induce
pain in (all or part of a body or organism).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus
- verb excite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame
- verb cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Tony swung back to him, his expression irritate "What are you talking about?"
Laura's Baby Winters, Rebecca 1997
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(even by the fact that the word irritate has too many double letters in it).
[Help] Most Recent Posts jeanmfernande 2010
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And even though it's not a rule that you HAVE to tip it does kind of irritate me sometimes that you're expected to tip AND pay the 5% surcharge.
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From the Guttmacher Institute on IUDs intrauterine devices--they're put in the uterine lining to "irritate" it to prevent implantation of an embryo:
A First Pregnancy May Be Difficult to Achieve After Long-Term Use of an IUD GreenFertility 2007
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From the Guttmacher Institute on IUDs intrauterine devices--they're put in the uterine lining to "irritate" it to prevent implantation of an embryo:
Archive 2007-08-01 GreenFertility 2007
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Yes, yes, the pirate wants to "irritate" the politicians.
Marcos Craps His Pants! Alleged Sandy Wells Attacker Arrested 2006
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Things would kind of irritate -- you know, things would, you know -- I would be able to ignore a lot of things that bothered me.
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Maybe "irritate" was actually "seizure" in Korea -- but seizures still don't make you drop dead though they can kill, it's a bit more complicated and you can generally survive until reaching a hospital.
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IFP general-secretary at the time, Oscar Dhlomo, who said on state television Gasa's remarks to the press would "irritate" Inkatha.
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"Jest kind of irritate one another, eh?" said Scattergood, thoughtfully.
Scattergood Baines Clarence Budington Kelland 1922
oroboros commented on the word irritate
IrRitatE
May 11, 2008