IRRITABILITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Irritability

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/ɪrɪtəbˈɪləti/ Listen

noun

Irritability n.

The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability; petulance; fretfulness; as, irritability of temper.

(Physiol.) A natural susceptibility, characteristic of all living organisms, tissues, and cells, to the influence of certain stimuli, response being manifested in a variety of ways, as that quality in plants by which they exhibit motion under suitable stimulation; esp., the property which living muscle possesses, of responding either to a direct stimulus of its substance, or to the stimulating influence of its nerve fibers, the response being indicated by a change of form, or contraction; contractility.

(Med.) A condition of morbid excitability of an organ or part of the body; undue susceptibility to the influence of stimuli. See Irritation, n., 3.

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Etymology of 'Irritability'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Irritability" Quotes from Famous Books

... himself, and always on the verge of a complete breakdown of mind and body. In 1851 he had an effusion of water on the left knee, which stopped his outdoor exercise, on which he had always largely depended. All the irritability of the system then centered in the head, resulting in intense pain and in a restless and devouring activity of thought. He himself says: "The whirl, the confusion, and strange, undefined tortures attending this condition are only to be conceived ...

— Hero Tales From American History • Henry Cabot Lodge, and Theodore Roosevelt

... popular Essay on the Concealed Causes of Nervous Debility, Local and General Weakness, Indigestion, Lowness of Spirits, Mental Irritability, and Insanity; with Practical Observations on their Treatment and Cure. By SAMUEL LA'MERT, Consulting Surgeon, 9 Bedford street, Bedford square, London; Matriculated Member of the University of Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the London Hospital Medical Society; Licentiate ...

— The Economist - Volume 1, No. 3 • Various

... medical terms," said the Minister for Health. "The condition begins with a period of great irritability or depression. The depression is so great that suicide is not infrequent. If that doesn't happen, there's a period of suspiciousness and secretiveness—strongly suggestive of paranoia. Then there's a craving for—unusual ...

— The Hate Disease • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... from any perverse love of sophistry, that the word sensibility has been used in these instances instead of irritability, which seems better to characterize the temper of a Dionysius, or a Tiberius; but, in fact, irritability, in common language, merely denotes an excessive or ill governed degree of sensibility. The point of excess must be marked: sympathy must be regulated by education, and consequently the methods of directing sensibility to useful and amiable purposes, must be anxiously studied by ...

— Practical Education, Volume I • Maria Edgeworth

... Navy was spent upon the Malabar Coast, where the disease is endemic. There can be do doubt that it has been latent in his system ever since, and that the irritability of temper and indecision of character, of which his family have so often had to complain, were really among ...

— Hilda Wade - A Woman With Tenacity Of Purpose • Grant Allen

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