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irritate

ir·ri·tate

UK/ˈɪɹ.ɪˌteɪt/ US/ˈɪrɪˌteɪt/ uncommon obsolete

verb

1.

cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations

  • “Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me”
  • “It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves”
Synonyms
2.

excite to an abnormal condition, of chafe or inflame

  • “Aspirin irritates my stomach”
Antonyms
3.

excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus

  • “irritate the glands of a leaf”

Origin

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”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.