irritate
VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (3)irritates, irritated, irritating
- 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”Synonyms: annoyragget tobotherget atrilenarknettlegravelvexchafedevilMore general displeaseMore specific harass, antagonize, ruffle, get, fret, eat into, peeveSimilar chafe
- excite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame“Aspirin irritates my stomach”Opposite sootheMore general worsen, aggravateMore specific rub, chafe
- 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”More general stimulate, exciteMore specific pinch, vellicate
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Verb to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- Spanish
- irritar
- French
- agacer
- German
- reizen
- Italian
- irritare
- Portuguese
- irritar
- Turkish
- sinirlendirmek
- Russian
- раздража́ть razdražátʹ
- Chinese
- 惹恼 rěnǎo
- Japanese
- 苛立たせる iradataseru
- Dutch
- irriteren
18 more languages
- Polish
- irytować
- Swedish
- irritera
- Greek
- εκνευρίζω eknevrízo
- Indonesian
- menjengkelkan
- Vietnamese
- chọc tức
- Portuguese (PT)
- irritar
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 刺激 cìjī
- Catalan
- irritar
- Czech
- dráždit
- Danish
- irritere
- Esperanto
- agaci
- Finnish
- ärsyttää
- Georgian
- გაღიზიანება gaɣizianeba
- Icelandic
- erta
- Lithuanian
- erzinti
- Norwegian
- irritere
- Romanian
- irita
- Serbo-Croatian
- iritirati
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: See 1 st Irritant.
To render null and void. rare Abp. John Bramhall
Origin: L. irritatus, p. p. of irritare. Of doubtful origin.
1. To increase the action or violence of; to heighten excitement in; to intensify; to stimulate.
Cold maketh the spirits vigorous and irritateth them.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
2. To excite anger or displeasure in; to provoke; to tease; to exasperate; to annoy; to vex; as, the insolence of a tyrant irritates his subjects.
Dismiss the man, nor irritate the god: Prevent the rage of him who reigns above.— Alexander Pope
3. Physiology To produce irritation in; to stimulate; to cause to contract. See Irritation, noun, 2.
4. Medicine To make morbidly excitable, or oversensitive; to fret; as, the skin is irritated by friction; to irritate a wound by a coarse bandage.
Synonyms: To fret; inflame; excite; provoke; tease; vex; exasperate; anger; incense; enrage. — To Irritate, Provoke, Exasperate. These words express different stages of excited or angry feeling. Irritate denotes an excitement of quick and slightly angry feeling which is only momentary; as, irritated by a hasty remark. To provoke implies the awakening of some open expression of decided anger; as, a provoking insult. Exasperate denotes a provoking of anger at something unendurable. Whatever comes across our feelings irritates; whatever excites anger provokes; whatever raises anger to a high point exasperates. “Susceptible and nervous people are most easily irritated; proud people are quickly provoked; hot and fiery people are soonest exasperated.” George Crabb
Excited; heightened. obsolete
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54