MEANING
1. To make someone annoyed or impatient.
2. To make body tissue sore or inflamed through contact or stimulation.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- irritate a reader
- irritate colleagues
On the page
The repeated interruptions irritated everyone at the table.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- irritate
- Past tense
- irritated
- Past participle
- irritated
- Present participle
- irritating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- irritate
- Present continuous
- am/is/are irritating
- Present perfect
- have/has irritated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been irritating
- Past
- irritated
- Past continuous
- was/were irritating
- Past perfect
- had irritated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been irritating
- Future
- will irritate
- Future continuous
- will be irritating
- Future perfect
- will have irritated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been irritating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: irritate; irritates; irritated; irritated; irritating Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: irritates.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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