adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Capable of being irritated.
2. 2
   Easily exasperated or excited.

   "an irritable old man"

3. 3
   Responsive to stimuli.

Adjective

1. 1
   easily irritated or annoyed wordnet
2. 2
   capable of responding to stimuli wordnet
3. 3
   abnormally sensitive to a stimulus wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

sensitiveaggressiveagitableall nervesallergicanaphylactic

Antonyms

All antonyms

calmimperturbableserene

Example

More examples

"If people who smoke are deprived of their cigarettes, they get nervous and irritable."

Etymology

Borrowed from French irritable, from Latin irritabilis.

Related phrases

irritable bowel syndromeirritable heartirritable male syndrome

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.