Synonyms for irritable
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Peevish
peevish, cranky, testy, petulant, fretful, tetchy UK US IE, irascible, short-tempered, querulous, choleric, grouchy, fractious, grumpy, crabby, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, sensitive, thin-skinned, huffy informal, moody, touchy, cantankerous
2. Excitable
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Capable of being irritated.
- adj. 2
Easily exasperated or excited.
Related words
- Word family
- irritability irritably
- Phrases
- irritable bowel syndrome
- Is a kind of
- enthusiastic passionate
Example sentences
- cranky Tom is going to be very cranky if Mary does that.
- petulant Her petulant humor upset the attendees.
- testy He gets really testy when he doesn't get his way.
- peevish Tom woke up feeling rather peevish.
- susceptible Northern Algeria is susceptible to earthquakes.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| irritable | rising | |
| cranky | rising | |
| petulant | rising | |
| testy | rising | |
| peevish | rising | |
| susceptible | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- moody2, testy2, huffy2
- 6 letters
- grumpy2, cranky2, touchy2, crabby2, tetchy
- 7 letters
- grouchy2, fretful2, peevish2
- 8 letters
- petulant3, choleric3
- 9 letters
- sensitive3, excitable4, irascible4, fractious2, querulous3
- 11 letters
- susceptible4, inflammable4
- 12 letters
- cantankerous4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (moody2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- irritable
- Italiano
- irritabile
- Deutsch
- reizbar