irritate
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irritate
exasperate; provoke; inflame or chafe: Her incessant chatter irritates me.
Not to be confused with:
aggravate – to make worse: The smoky room aggravated her asthma.; to annoy: Don’t aggravate the substitute teacher.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree
ir·ri·tate
(ĭr′ĭ-tāt′)v. ir·ri·tat·ed, ir·ri·tat·ing, ir·ri·tates
v.tr.
1. To cause (someone) to feel impatient or angry; annoy: a loud, bossy voice that irritates listeners. See Synonyms at annoy.
2. To make sore or inflamed: The smoke irritated my eyes.
3. Physiology To cause a physiological response to a stimulus in (a cell, body tissue, or organism).
v.intr.
To be a cause of impatience or anger.
[Latin irrītāre, irrītāt-.]
ir′ri·tat′ing·ly adv.
ir′ri·ta′tor n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
irritate
(ˈɪrɪˌteɪt)vb
1. to annoy or anger (someone)
2. (Biology) (tr) biology to stimulate (an organism or part) to respond in a characteristic manner
3. (Pathology) (tr) pathol to cause (a bodily organ or part) to become excessively stimulated, resulting in inflammation, tenderness, etc
[C16: from Latin irrītāre to provoke, exasperate]
ˈirriˌtator n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ir•ri•tate
(ˈɪr ɪˌteɪt)v. -tat•ed, -tat•ing. v.t.
1. to excite to impatience or anger; annoy.
2. Physiol., Biol. to excite (a living system) to some characteristic action or function.
3. Pathol. to bring (a body part) to an abnormally excited or sensitive condition.
v.i. 4. to cause irritation or become irritated.
[1525–35; < Latin irrītātus, past participle of irrītāre to arouse to anger, excite, aggravate]
ir′ri•ta`tor, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
irritate
Past participle: irritated
Gerund: irritating
| Imperative |
|---|
| irritate |
| irritate |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Verb | 1. |  irritate - cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves"get under one's skin, get - irritate; "Her childish behavior really get to me"; "His lying really gets me" eat into, rankle, grate, fret - gnaw into; make resentful or angry; "The injustice rankled her"; "his resentment festered" chafe - feel extreme irritation or anger; "He was chafing at her suggestion that he stay at home while she went on a vacation" peeve - cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful ruffle - trouble or vex; "ruffle somebody's composure" fret - cause annoyance in beset, chevvy, chevy, chivvy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, plague, provoke - annoy continually or chronically; "He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked"; "This man harasses his female co-workers" antagonize, antagonise - provoke the hostility of; "Don't antagonize your boss" displease - give displeasure to |
| 2. | irritate - excite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame; "Aspirin irritates my stomach" soothe - cause to feel better; "the medicine soothes the pain of the inflammation" | |
| 3. | irritate - excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus; "irritate the glands of a leaf" physiology - the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning of organisms |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
irritate
verb
1. annoy, anger, bother, provoke, offend, needle (informal), harass, infuriate, aggravate (informal), incense, fret, enrage, gall, ruffle, inflame, exasperate, nettle, pester, vex, irk, pique, rankle with, get under your skin (informal), get on your nerves (informal), nark (Brit., Austral., & N.Z. slang), drive you up the wall (slang), piss you off (taboo slang), rub you up the wrong way (informal), get your goat (slang), try your patience, get in your hair (informal), get on your wick (informal), get your dander up (informal), raise your hackles, get your back up, get your hackles up, put your back up Their attitude irritates me.
annoy calm, soothe, placate, please, comfort, gratify, mollify
annoy calm, soothe, placate, please, comfort, gratify, mollify
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
irritate
verbThe American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
يُغْضِب، يُغيظيُهَيِّج، يُثير
drážditpopouzet
irritere
ertaerta, skaprauna
erzinimaspiktumas
aizkaitinātkairinātuzbudināt
podráždiť
dražitirazdražiti
kızdırmaksinirlendirmektahriş etmek
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
irritate
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
irritate
(ˈiriteit) verb1. to annoy or make angry. The children's chatter irritated him.
2. to make (a part of the body) sore, red, itchy etc. Soap can irritate a baby's skin.
ˈirritable adjective easily annoyed. He was in an irritable mood.
ˈirritably adverbˌirritaˈbility noun
ˈirritableness noun
ˈirritating adjective
She has an irritating voice.
ˌirriˈtation nounKernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
irritate
v. irritar.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
irritate
vt irritar; to become irritated irritarseEnglish-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.