irritability

English

Etymology

From Latin irritabilitās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪɹɪtəˈbɪlɪti/

• Audio (UK)

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Noun

irritability (countable and uncountable, plural irritabilities)

1. The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability

   irritability of temper

2. (physiology) A natural susceptibility, characteristic of all living organisms, tissues, and cells, to the influence of certain stimuli, response being manifested in a variety of ways.
   • 1836, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Specimens of the Table Talk

     There is growth only in plants; but there is irritability, or, a better word, instinctivity, in insects.

   • 1800, Erasmus Darwin, Phytologia, Or the Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening

     We find a renitency in ourselves to ascribe life and irritability to the cold and motionless fibres of plants.

3. (medicine) A condition of morbid excitability of an organ or part of the body; undue susceptibility to the influence of stimuli.

Synonyms

• (state of being irritable): petulance, fretfulness

Translations

state or quality of being irritable

• Bulgarian: раздразнителност (bg) f (razdraznitelnost)
• Catalan: irritabilitat (ca) f
• French: irritabilité (fr) f
• German: Reizbarkeit f, Empfindlichkeit (de) f, Irritabilität (de) f
• Irish: colgaí f, drisíneacht f, frisnéiseacht f, gairge f, greannaitheacht f, lasántacht f, meirg (ga) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: irritabilitet m

  Nynorsk: irritabilitet m

• Romanian: iritabilitate (ro) f
• Russian: раздражи́тельность (ru) f (razdražítelʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: irritabilidad (es) f
• Tagalog: pagkatalusaling

References

• irritability in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• irritability in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.