Meanings
irritate1
present singular third person irritates · participle present irritating · participle past irritated · past irritated
- transitiveTo provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure in.
Thou scandalizest me and irritatest my nature as much as it possibly can be irritated.
1896, Ernest Rénan, translated by Eleanor Grant Vickery, Caliban: A Philosophical Drama Continuing “The Tempest” of William Shakespeare (Publications of The Shakespeare Society of New York; No. 9), New York, N.Y.: The Shakespeare Press; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., page 192 more examples
If thou irritatest my lord, there will come to war against thee all the Getulians, Numidians, and Garamantes, Afric contains.
1814, Signor Vestris, La Didone Abbandonata, a Serious Opera, in Two Acts. Altered from Metastasio, by Signor Vestris. As Represented at the King’s Theatre, in the Hay-Market., London: […] J. Gillet, […], page 15Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 10Synonyms: provoke, rile, aggravate, annoy, nettle, rankle, ruffle, sting · Antonyms: placate, please, soothe
- transitiveTo induce pain in (all or part of a body or organism).
[L]ike as by yeerly acceſſe and anniverſarie revolutions, the forcible vigor of the peſtilence returneth for to irritate and provoke all Aſia; […]
1603, Plutarch, “What Passions and Maladies Be Worse, Those of the Soule or Those of the Bodie?”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 314Synonyms: afflict, pang, ache, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, anguish, dere
irritate2
present singular third person irritates · participle present irritating · participle past irritated · past irritated
- obsoletetransitiveScots lawTo render null and void.
c. 1634-1661 John Bramhall, Protestants' Ordination Defended Are human laws presently superfluous, so often as they do not irritate or abrogate Divine laws ?
Synonyms: annul, nullify, invalidate
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure in.
verbTo induce pain in (all or part of a body or organism).
verbTo render null and void.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
verbexcite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
irritate · verb
- Latinirrītātus
- Englishirritate
Borrowed from Latin irrītātus, perfect passive participle of irrītō (“excite, irritate, incite, stimulate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →irritate · verb
- Latinirritātus
- Englishirritate
Borrowed from Latin irritātus, perfect passive participle of irritō (“to invalidate, render void, annul”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from irritus (“invalid”), the equivalent of in- + ratus (“valid, established, fixed”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek παροξύνω
- παροξύνω (paroxúnō)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Bengali জ্বালাতন করা, সাতানো
- জ্বালাতন করা (jalaton kora)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- সাতানো (satano)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Bulgarian дразня, ядосвам
- дразня (draznja)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- ядосвам (jadosvam)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Chinese Mandarin 激怒, 刺激
- 激怒 (jīnù)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- 刺激 (cìjī)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Czech dráždit
- drážditto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Dutch irriteren
- irriterento cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Esperanto agaci, malamuzi
- agacito cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- malamuzito cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Finnish ärsyttää, vituttaa
- ärsyttääto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- vituttaato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- nyppiäto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- tympiäto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- harmittaato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- vaivatato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
French agacer
- agacerto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
German reizen, irritieren
- reizento cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- irritierento cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- ärgernto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Greek εκνευρίζω, τσαντίζω
- εκνευρίζω (eknevrízo)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- τσαντίζω (tsantízo)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- θυμώνω (thymóno)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Hindi चिढ़ाना
- चिढ़ाना (ciṛhānā)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Irish greannaigh
- greannaighto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Italian irritare
- irritareto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Japanese いらいらさせる, 怒らせる
- いらいらさせる (iraira saseru)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- 怒らせる (ikaraseru)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- じらす (jirasu)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Latin piget, taedet
- pigetto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- taedetto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Lithuanian erzinti, dirginti
- erzintito cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- dirgintito cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Māori whakakūrakuraku, whakahārangirangi
- whakakūrakurakuto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- whakahārangirangito cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- mukākāto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- whakatōweneweneto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Norwegian irritere
- irritereto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Polish irytować, zirytować
- irytowaćto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- zirytowaćto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- drażnićto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- rozdrażniaćto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- rozdrażnićto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- denerwowaćto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- zdenerwowaćto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Portuguese irritar
- irritarto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Romanian irita, enerva
- iritato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- enervato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- agasato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- sâcâito cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Russian раздража́ть, злить
- раздража́ть (razdražátʹ)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- злить (zlitʹ)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- серди́ть (serdítʹ)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Spanish irritar, enviscar
- irritarto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- enviscarto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Swedish irritera
- irriterato cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Tagalog alibadbaran
- alibadbaranto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Thai ทำให้หงุดหงิด
- ทำให้หงุดหงิดto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Turkish kızdırmak, öfkelendirmek
- kızdırmakto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- öfkelendirmekto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- sinirlendirmekto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- sinir etmekto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- sinirini bozmakto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- gıcık etmekto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- tahriş etmekto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- kaşındırmakto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
- irite etmekto cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Ukrainian дратува́ти
- дратува́ти (dratuváty)to cause or induce displeasure or irritation
Cite this entry
irritate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/irritate
“irritate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/irritate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “irritate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/irritate.
Source: irritate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.