English Meaning & Definitions
Having or showing a tendency to be easily annoyed or angered.
- “Losing sleep can make people feel tired and irritable during the day.”
- “The patient became increasingly irritable as the wait for the doctor dragged on.”
Reacting oversensitively to physical stimuli.
- “The condition causes chronic inflammation of the irritable bowel lining.”
- “Bright lights can trigger headaches in people with irritable nervous systems.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
English Antonyms & Opposites
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “irritable”.
Late Middle English: from Latin irritabilis, from irritare 'to irritate'. The word originally denoted a capacity for being stimulated or excited, but by the 16th century, it acquired its modern negative connotation of being prone to anger or impatience.
Think of someone being easily 'irritated' by minor things, making them 'irritable'.
Frequently Asked Questions About “irritable”
1. What is the meaning of “irritable” in English?
In English, irritable (adjective) is defined as: “Having or showing a tendency to be easily annoyed or angered.”.
2. How do you use “irritable” in a sentence?
“Losing sleep can make people feel tired and irritable during the day.”
3. What are English synonyms of “irritable”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “irritable”?
Late Middle English: from Latin irritabilis, from irritare 'to irritate'. The word originally denoted a capacity for being stimulated or excited, but by the 16th century, it acquired its modern negative connotation of being prone to anger or impatience.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.