| Irritation 1. (n.) The act of irritating, or exciting, or the state of being irritated; excitement; stimulation, usually of an undue and uncomfortable kind; especially, excitement of anger or passion; provocation; annoyance; anger. 2. (n.) The act of exciting, or the condition of being excited to action, by stimulation; -- as, the condition of an organ of sense, when its nerve is affected by some external body; esp., the act of exciting muscle fibers to contraction, by artificial stimulation; as, the irritation of a motor nerve by electricity; also, the condition of a muscle and nerve, under such stimulation. 3. (n.) A condition of morbid excitability or oversensitiveness of an organ or part of the body; a state in which the application of ordinary stimuli produces pain or excessive or vitiated action. Thesaurus Entries adverse circumstances, adversity, affliction, aggravation, agitation, algesia, amplification, animation, annoyance, arousal, arousing, augmentation, blight, bummer, care, chafe, contentiousness, cross, curse, deepening, deliberate aggravation, deterioration, difficulties, difficulty, disapprobation, disapproval, discontent, displeasure, dissatisfaction, downer, electrification, embittering, embitterment, enhancement, enlargement, exacerbation, exasperation, excitation, excitement, exhilaration, festering, firing, fomentation, fret, gall, galvanization, hard knocks, hard life, hard lot, hardcase, hardship, heightening, incitation, incitement, increase, inflammation, infuriation, instigation, intensification, irritant, lathering up, magnification, pep rally, pep talk, perturbation, plight, predicament, pressure, provocation, rabble-rousing, rankling, resentfulness, resentment, rigor, sea of troubles, sensitiveness, sharpening, sore, sore spot, soreness, souring, steaming up, stimulation, stimulus, stirring, stirring up, stirring-up, stress, stress of life, tenderness, trial, tribulation, trouble, troubles, vale of tears, vexation, vicissitude, whipping up, working up, worsening |