irritable Hear it!

irritable Definition

ir·ri·table (ir′i tə bəl)

adjective

  1. easily annoyed or provoked; fretful
  2. Med. excessively or pathologically sensitive to a stimulus
  3. Physiol. able to respond to a stimulus

Etymology: L irritabilis < irritare, to irritate

Related Forms:

irritable Synonyms

irritable

modif.

sensitive, irascible, touchy, testy, ill-tempered, huffy, peevish, petulant, fractious, tense, high-strung, contentious, disputatious, resentful, fretting, carping, crabbed, hypercritical, out of humor, bearish, quick-tempered, short-tempered, easily offended, choleric, splenetic, glum, complaining, brooding, dissatisfied, plaintive, snarling, grumbling, surly, gloomy, ill-natured, morose, moody, fidgety, snappish, waspish, cantankerous, crotchety, curmudgeonly, captious, fretful, querulous, hypersensitive, ill-humored, annoyed, cross, cranky, churlish, grouchy, gruff, short, shrewish, sulky, sullen, crusty*, snappy*, having a short fuse*, thin-skinned*, pickle-pussed*, grumpy*, sour-bellied*; see also critical 2, excitable, quarrelsome 2.

Antonyms pleasant*, agreeable*, good-natured.

irritable implies quick excitability to annoyance or anger, usually resulting from emotional tension, restlessness, physical indisposition, etc.; irascible and choleric are applied to persons who are hot-tempered and can be roused to a fit of anger at the slightest irritation; splenetic suggests a peevish moroseness in one quick to vent his malice or spite; touchy applies to one who is acutely irritable or sensitive and is too easily offended; cranky and cross suggest moods in which one cannot be easily pleased or satisfied, cranky because of stubborn notions or whims, and cross because of ill humor

irritable Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • rather: Although he seems a rather irritable fellow, I am willing to persevere with him for your sake, my dear lady.
  • very: He was very irritable, bad-tempered, " she told AFP.
  • so: I was on my own with all four children all morning and was so irritable, poor things.
  • often: When children don't get enough sleep they are often irritable and unable to cope with stress.
  • unusually: If you wake up with a headache and feel unusually irritable, measure your blood sugar at about 3am.
  • extremely: A young player with a head injury may be extremely irritable or fretful or may cry constantly.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: Beneficial smells to driving include peppermint and cinnamon, which improve concentration levels as well as making drivers less irritable.
  • get: Naturally feels a world better than before however can get a bit irritable, recovery better, coping mechanism improved.

Modifies a noun

  • syndrome: Impact of irritable bowel syndrome on quality of life.
  • bowel: She could suffer from a kind of irritable bowel - brought on by stress.
  • bladder: Recent research shows that this condition of ' irritable bladder ' is not part of the normal aging process.
  • symptom: Ask most women and they will agree that the most common and irritable symptom of menopause are hot flashes.
  • mood: No man likes to be dogged, and in the very irritable mood in which I then was the sight of Mdlle.
  • disease: Results There were 155 cases of irritable bowel disease, with 152 definite or probable cases.

Used with adjective complement

  • feel: Tue 14th Jan - Feeling somewhat irritable with such a big class.
  • become: About half of all babies who have the vaccine may become irritable, about 1:20 may get a mild fever.
  • get: Iâm not enjoying being away from work, Iâm getting irritable looking for things to do, anything!
  • have: People who think they have Irritable Bowel Syndrome may have undiagnosed coeliac disease.
  • seem: They may also seem irritable, tearful or agitated.
  • call: In fact, there's a thing called Irritable Man Syndrome.