Synonyms for irritate
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Annoy — to provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure in
annoy, vex, aggravate informal, exasperate, irk, inflame, bother, rile, rankle, provoke, molest, pester, offend, nettle, pique, displease, get, enrage, get to, get at, roil, worry
2. Hurt — to induce pain in (all or part of a body or organism)
hurt, torment, anger, wound, pain, afflict, agonize, agonise UK, wring, torture, pang, harrow, excruciate, rack, distress, anguish, lacerate, aggrieve, ache formal rare
Other
Definitions
- v. 1
To provoke impatience, anger, or displeasure in.
- v. 2
To cause or induce displeasure or irritation.
- v. 3
To induce pain in (all or part of a body or organism).
Related words
- Word family
- irritant irritation irritative
Forms
- Past participle
- irritated
e.g. irritated → annoyed, vexed, aggravated, exasperated…
Example sentences
- exasperate Sorry, I didn't mean to exasperate you with my endless questions.
- rankle His bitter words still rankle in my mind.
- hurt I don't want to hurt Tom, but I will if I have to.
- afflict My motto is: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| irritate | rising | |
| rile | rising | |
| irk | steady | |
| exasperate | steady | |
| rankle | rising | |
| hurt | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- get1, vex1, irk1
- 4 letters
- pain1, hurt1, rack1, ache1, pang1, rile1, roil1
- 5 letters
- worry2, anger2, wound1, annoy2, pique1, wring1, annul2, chafe1
- 6 letters
- bother2, offend2, harrow2, molest2, nettle2, pester2, enrage2, rankle2, abrade2
- 7 letters
- torture2, provoke2, torment2, anguish2, inflame2, afflict2, agonize3, agonise
- 8 letters
- distress2, lacerate3, aggrieve2
- 9 letters
- aggravate3, displease2
- 10 letters
- invalidate4, exasperate4, excruciate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (worry2 = 2 syllables).