irritate

Verbs

  • (v) cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
    • Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me
    • It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves
    annoy, devil, gravel, nark, rile, vex, bother, nettle, rag, chafe, get at, get to,
  • (v) excite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame
    • Aspirin irritates my stomach
  • (v) excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus
    • irritate the glands of a leaf

Synonyms

annoy devil gravel nark rile vex bother nettle rag chafe get at get to

Antonyms

soothe

Words of close approximity

irritant
irritated