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 render null and void.
  • Excited; exasperated; intensified.
  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To render null and void.
  • 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
  • adjective obsolete Excited; heightened.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure.
  • verb transitive To introduce irritability.
  • verb intransitive To cause or induce displeasure or irritation.
  • 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

[Latin irrītāre, irrītāt-.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin irritatus, past participle of irritare ("to excite, irritate, incite, stimulate")

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Examples

  • Tony swung back to him, his expression irritate "What are you talking about?"

    Laura's Baby Winters, Rebecca 1997

  • (even by the fact that the word irritate has too many double letters in it).

    [Help] Most Recent Posts jeanmfernande 2010

  • 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.

    I'm so clueless! - SpouseBUZZ 2008

  • 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

  • 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

  • Yes, yes, the pirate wants to "irritate" the politicians.

    Marcos Craps His Pants! Alleged Sandy Wells Attacker Arrested 2006

  • Things would kind of irritate -- you know, things would, you know -- I would be able to ignore a lot of things that bothered me.

    CNN Transcript May 25, 2005 2005

  • 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.

    A Diagnosis For Online Gaming Syndrome 2005

  • IFP general-secretary at the time, Oscar Dhlomo, who said on state television Gasa's remarks to the press would "irritate" Inkatha.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1996

  • "Jest kind of irritate one another, eh?" said Scattergood, thoughtfully.

    Scattergood Baines Clarence Budington Kelland 1922

Comments

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  • IrRitatE

    May 11, 2008