irritability

English

Etymology

From Latin irritabilitās.

Noun

irritability (countable and uncountable, plural irritabilities)

The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability
irritability of temper
(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.
- (Can we date this quote by Samuel Taylor Coleridge?)
  There is growth only in plants; but there is irritability, or, a better word, instinctivity, in insects.
- (Can we date this quote by E. Darwin?)
  We find a renitency in ourselves to ascribe life and irritability to the cold and motionless fibres of plants.
(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

Catalan: irritabilitat (ca) f
French: irritabilité (fr) 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
Spanish: irritabilidad (es) f
Tagalog: pagkatalusaling

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Romanian: ^{(please verify)} iritabilitate (ro)

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.

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