irritation

Borrowed from Middle French irritation, from Latin irrītātiō, from irrītāre, present active infinitive of irrītō (“I excite”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪɹɪˈteɪʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

• Audio (Southern England)

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irritation (countable and uncountable, plural irritations)

1. The act of irritating or annoying

   What irritation causes you to be so moody?

2. The state of being irritated
   • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 172:

     Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.

3. A things or person that annoys

   Synonym: pain in the neck

4. (physiology) a state of inflammation or painful reaction to allergy or cell-lining damage.
5. A condition of morbid excitability or oversensitiveness of an organ or part of the body; a state in which the application of ordinary stimuli produces pain or excessive or vitiated action.
   • 1975, Richard I. Feinbloom, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Child Health Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide for Parents:

     Hip pain is a common complaint in children and may indicate a very mild irritation in the hip joint or may be the symptom of a very severe abnormality

• irritable
• irritate

irritation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “irritation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “irritation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

From Latin irrītātiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /i.ʁi.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃
• Homophone: irritations

irritation f (plural irritations)

1. irritation (all senses)

• irriter

• “irritation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.