irritated

irritated — adjective

1. feeling a mild but clear anger because something unpleasant keeps happening or s

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

feeling a mild but clear anger because something unpleasant keeps happening or someone is being unhelpful or annoying; the emotion is not as strong as full anger but stronger than simple impatience.

Example

Diego felt irritated when his younger brother kept interrupting his online lesson.

feel irritated + when + repeated action

The librarian sounded irritated as she asked the group to be quiet for the third time.

linking verb + irritated: sound / look / become

Common collocations
  • irritated by the noise
  • irritated with someone
  • get irritated
  • feel irritated
  • sound irritated
  • increasingly irritated
Synonyms
  • annoyed

    the closest synonym; 'annoyed' is slightly broader and can describe milder reactions too

  • exasperated

    stronger than 'irritated'; suggests you have run out of patience

  • peeved

    informal and slightly old-fashioned; a mild, almost playful annoyance

  • irked

    a little more formal; the irritation is usually caused by a trivial matter

Antonyms
  • pleased

    the opposite emotional state — satisfied and happy with the situation

  • calm

    not feeling any anger or upset despite the situation

  • content

    feeling peaceful and satisfied, the opposite of bothered

Grammar Patterns

be/get/feel + irritated + by/at/with + cause

look/sound/become + irritated

Usage Note

Frequently describes a reaction to a repeated or ongoing annoyance (noise, delay, interruptions) rather than a one-time event. The cause is often introduced by 'by' for events or 'with' for people or things: 'irritated by the delay', 'irritated with her colleague'. 'At' is also possible but less common: 'irritated at the mistake'.

Common Mistakes

I am very irritate with the noise.
I am very irritated by the noise.
use the past-participle adjective form 'irritated', not the bare verb stem.
She was irritated about him.
She was irritated with him.
use 'with' for the person causing the feeling; 'about' is for topics, not people.
He felt irritate when the bus was late.
He felt irritated when the bus was late.
'irritated' is the adjective form; 'irritate' is the verb.

Word family

  • irritate
    verbB2
  • irritating
    adjectiveB1
  • irritation
    nounB2
  • irritable
    adjectiveB2
  • irritably
    adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All five describe some level of upset, but they sit on different rungs of a ladder. 'Annoyed' is the broadest and most neutral: you can be annoyed by a dripping tap or by a cancelled flight with equal truth. 'Irritated' is the same general strength but often suggests a physical or repeated trigger — a scratchy label, a slow website, a colleague who sighs loudly. 'Peeved' is mild and informal, almost playful; you might be peeved that a friend forgot your birthday but not peeved about a serious problem. 'Irked' is slightly more formal and intellectual; the cause is usually a minor rule or habit rather than a personal affront. 'Exasperated' sits at the top of the ladder — it means you have no patience left. A driver may be irritated by a traffic jam but exasperated by the same jam after an hour of bumper-to-bumper crawling.

irritated ↗annoyed ↗exasperatedpeeved ↗irked

Common collocations

Nouns

  • irritated tone
  • irritated look
  • irritated sigh
  • irritated voice
  • irritated response

Adverbs

  • visibly irritated
  • slightly irritated
  • deeply irritated
  • increasingly irritated
  • clearly irritated

Phrases

  • get irritated
  • feel irritated
  • sound irritated
  • look irritated

Prepositions

  • irritated at
  • irritated by
  • irritated with

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

'Irritated' comes from the Latin verb 'irritare', meaning to excite, provoke, or make angry. It entered English in the early 17th century, first as a verb ('to irritate'), describing the act of stirring up a physical or emotional response. By the 18th century, the adjective 'irritated' was used both for inflamed body tissue and for a person's state of mild anger. The two branches — physical irritation (a rash, a sore throat) and emotional irritation (annoyance) — have stayed alive side by side ever since.