IRRITABILITY

temper, biliousness, irritability, peevishness, pettishness, snappishness, surliness

(noun) a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger; “his temper was well known to all his employees”

excitability, irritability

(noun) excessive sensitivity of an organ or body part

irritability, crossness, fretfulness, fussiness, peevishness, petulance, choler

(noun) an irritable petulant feeling

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

irritability (countable and uncountable, plural irritabilities)

The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability

(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.

(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

Source: Wiktionary


Ir`ri*ta*bil"i*ty, n. Etym: [L. irritabilitas: cf. F. irritabilité.]

1. The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability; petulance; fretfulness; as, irritability of temper.

2. (Physiol.)

Definition: 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, -- as that quality in plants by which they exhibit motion under suitable stimulation; esp., the property which living muscle processes, of responding either to a direct stimulus of its substance, or to the stimulating influence of its nerve fibers, the response being indicated by a change of form, or contraction; contractility.

3. (Med.)

Definition: A condition of morbid excitability of an organ or part of the body; undue susceptibility to the influence of stimuli. See Irritation, n., 3.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

10 June 2025

COMMUNICATIONS

(noun) the discipline that studies the principles of transmiting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc.); “communications is his major field of study”


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Coffee Trivia

The average annual yield from one coffee tree is the equivalent of 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of roasted coffee. It takes about 4,000 hand-picked green coffee beans to make a pound of coffee.

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