IRRITATE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Irritate

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/ˈɪrɪtˌeɪt/ 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

Irritate adj. Excited; heightened. (Obs.)

See images of 'Irritate'

Etymology of 'Irritate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Irritate" Quotes from Famous Books

... allow the part to heal at once. Among causes of inflammation may be mentioned a stone in the frog, causing a traumatic thrush; a badly fitting harness or saddle, causing ulcers of the skin; decomposing manure and urine in a stable, which, by their vapors, irritate the air tubes and lungs ...

— Special Report on Diseases of the Horse • United States Department of Agriculture

... repugnant to the ordinary feelings of human nature. He earnestly beseeches the Romans, that when he should be exposed in the amphitheatre, they would not, by their kind but unseasonable intercession, deprive him of the crown of glory; and he declares his resolution to provoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be employed as the instruments of his death. Some stories are related of the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, ...

— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon

... Chancellor when, through their own carelessness, the matter had gone against him in the inferior court? And why did they now, even in these latter days, when they were driven to reopen the case by the clearness of the evidence submitted to them,—why did they even now wound his ears, irritate his temper, and oppose the warmest feelings of his heart by expressing pity for this wicked criminal, whom it was their bounden duty to prosecute to the very utmost? Was it not by their fault that Orley Farm had been lost to ...

— Orley Farm • Anthony Trollope

... time? You must come again soon. Come next year. You and I love each other. You teach me things I did not know, and you never irritate me. I love you. You ...

— Guns of the Gods • Talbot Mundy

... any that bear my name, or eat my bread." With the words, he walked to the door and held it open. It was impossible to mistake the unspoken order, and there was something in the concentrated yet controlled passion of Robert Worth which even the haughty priest did not care to irritate beyond ...

— Remember the Alamo • Amelia E. Barr

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