1
as in annoys
to disturb the peace of mind of (someone) especially by repeated disagreeable acts
constant chatter irritated the student, who was trying to concentrate on a hard assignment
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of irritates
In other words, alcohol disrupts hydration, irritates the gut, inflames blood vessels, messes with sleep, and forces your liver into metabolic overdrive.
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Ciara Lucas, SELF, 30 Dec. 2025
Without this process, the air would be colder and drier, which irritates and constricts the airways and can lead to inflammation.
—Sarah Philip, Popular Science, 4 Dec. 2025
Insoluble fiber mildly irritates the intestinal lining, stimulating the secretion of water and mucus, which encourages the movement of stool.
—Heather Jones, Verywell Health, 14 Nov. 2025
But Chelsea won’t have it, shutting the whole thing down in a way that clearly irritates her.
—Anne Victoria Clark, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025
The group exhausts and irritates opposing pitchers.
—Andy McCullough, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
During his appearance on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast alongside his The Roses costar Olivia Colman, the 49-year-old actor opened up about what irritates his family members.
—Ashlyn Robinette, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025
The news irritates Lord Lovat, knowing that if the MacKenzie brothers thought Ellen had run off with Malcom Grant, and Dougal (Sam Retford) was dumb enough to beat Malcom as a result, there has to be a moral lapse in judgment somewhere.
—Lincee Ray Published, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025
That gas irritates the nose and lungs, which makes those parts of the body work harder.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irritates
Verb
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One of its two young sibling protagonists, Amber (Bianca Belle), channels her feelings about the recent death of her mother into drawings of creatures born out of her troubled imagination, some of whom enact violence against the classmate who annoys her.—
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There's just one thing about Claire Danes that annoys Matthew Rhys.—
Verb
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There are certainly some top-notch barbecue restaurants that made the cut, but the Michelin selection barely scratches the surface of the South’s long, proud barbecue tradition.—
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The affidavit said that the victim suffered minor injuries, including a bruise on her left eye and scratches on the right side of her neck.—
Verb
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Feeney’s book features multiple narrators, but relativity is not an idea the series bothers to develop.—
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Now, wages have grown, but inflation bothers people.—
Verb
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What follows is an absurd reckoning that mixes surreal humor and domestic drama as Shula chafes against her relatives’ hysterical funeral planning.—
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Zwick is such a conventional filmmaker that DiCaprio chafes trying to break out of the Reluctant Hero straitjacket Zwick puts him in.—
Verb
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In Russia, the civilian repressive apparatus persecutes the military, which leaps at every chance for revenge.—
Verb
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Check the head and base and foot of the bed, peeling back the top sheet to look for evidence on mattress covers, box springs, dust ruffles, and the headboard—and most importantly, the mattress seams and piping because bed bugs like to hide in cracks and crevices.—
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Both can reduce debris or items that attract the boxelder bugs.—
Verb
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With a palette knife, Callie Siskel scrapes at the raw face of elegy, revealing interior forms on a canvas where the poet’s father lives beyond death.—
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But the legendary key party scene only scrapes the surface, and the film's blue-gray moodiness is downright enveloping, not to mention its brutally honest depiction of family ties.—
Verb
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What especially galls Marion is having eight touchdowns called back this season.—
Cite this Entry
“Irritates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irritates. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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