irritate
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make someone feel slightly angry or impatient.
to provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure in another person.
Simple“The constant sound of the dripping tap began to irritate him.”
In context“His colleague's habit of interrupting during meetings began to irritate the manager, who eventually requested a private discussion about professional conduct.”
UsageOften used in the passive voice to describe a state of mind: 'to be irritated by something'.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make a part of your body feel sore, itchy, or painful.
to induce inflammation, soreness, or physical discomfort in a body part or organism.
Simple“The harsh chemicals in the soap can irritate sensitive skin.”
In context“The smoke from the nearby forest fire continued to irritate the residents' eyes and throats, forcing many to stay indoors.”
UsageCommonly takes a body part or a biological system as a direct object.
“It would end for many callers the irritating wait in dead silence.” Dead silence may have disappeared, but a new annoyance was now taking its place.”
Borrowed from Latin irrītātus, perfect passive participle of irrītō (“excite, irritate, incite, stimulate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.