English Reference
Adjective

irritable

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US /ˈɪɹətəbəɫ/ UK /ˈɪɹɪtəbəl/ ir·ri·ta·ble Medicine

adj.becoming annoyed or angry very easily. You might feel this way when you are tired or stressed.

adj.having or showing a tendency to be easily annoyed or made angry. Often used to describe a temporary mood or a permanent personality trait.


SIMPLE

He becomes very irritable when he does not get enough sleep.

CONTEXTUAL

The long flight and lack of food made the passengers irritable and impatient with the staff.

COMPLEX

Chronic pain can make a patient increasingly irritable, leading to strained relationships with caregivers who may not understand the underlying physical cause of the mood shifts.

Usage

Commonly follows linking verbs like 'become', 'feel', or 'seem'.

The debate itself was tetchier, more irritable than when Kim Leadbeater introduced a similar bill in 2024.

BBC News· 11 Sept 2026

Borrowed from French irritable, from Latin irritabilis.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin irritabilis
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Occasional
Updated