IRRITATING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Irritating

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/ˈɪrətˌeɪtɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Irritate v. t. To render null and void. (R.)

Irritate v. t. (past & past part. irritated; pres. part. irritating)

1.

To increase the action or violence of; to heighten excitement in; to intensify; to stimulate. "Cold maketh the spirits vigorous and irritateth them."

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."

3.

(Physiol.) To produce irritation in; to stimulate; to cause to contract. See Irritation, n., 2.

4.

(Med.) 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."

adjective

irritating adj.

1.

Causing annoyance.

Synonyms: annoying, galling, chafing, nettlesome, pesky, pestiferous, pestilent, plaguy, plaguey, teasing, vexatious, vexing.

2.

Causing irritation of living tissue; used of physical stimuli.

Synonyms: irritant, irritative.

3.

Causing pain or physical discomfort; as, an irritating burr under his stocking.

Synonyms: painful.

See images of 'Irritating'

Etymology of 'Irritating'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Irritating" Quotes from Famous Books

... of robber-porters invaded the steamer the moment we came alongside the pier. The bustle, the loud shouting, the pushing, seemed most irritating. Ill as I was, for a few moments I almost contemplated the idea of turning back toward the virgin forest. The heat was oppressive, the bells of the tramways jangled all the time, the rattle of the mediaeval carriages on the cobble-stones ...

— Across Unknown South America • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

... all make discoveries to our advantage as well as our discomfiture. You, sir, might find that the talent for argument on which you pride yourself is to me only irritating wrong-headedness, and I might find that the bright wit that I fancy I flash around makes you feel tired. Jones's eyeglass would drop out of his eye because he would know it only made him look foolish, Brown would ...

— Pebbles on the Shore • Alpha of the Plough (Alfred George Gardiner)

... classes heard the speech and observed the manners of Britons. It was an experience not to be forgotten. The Puritan recruit from Massachusetts might write home lamenting the scandalous irreligion that prevailed among the levies from other colonies; but the irritating condescension of British regulars made him aware that he had after all more in common with the most unregenerate American than with any Englishman. The provincial, subtly conscious of his limitations when brought into contact with more traveled and cosmopolitan men, ...

— Beginnings of the American People • Carl Lotus Becker

... small quarrels, and to setting them right again; for we were prone to quarrel in a cousinly fashion, without much real bitterness on either side, but with such an intimate and irritating knowledge of each other's weak points, that we needed a peace-maker ...

— The Doctor's Dilemma • Hesba Stretton

... material—like a Tarpeia by the gifts of the enemy—by difficulty in selection, and in transformation, and recollect that the product has almost always been an inconsecutive story, unintelligible to those unacquainted with the book, destitute of the peculiar atmosphere of Dickens, irritating to lovers of the novel because pet characters have been entirely suppressed or cut down nearly to nothing, and only recognisable in many cases as a version of the original on account of costumes, names, make-up, scraps ...

— Our Stage and Its Critics • "E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette"

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