irritability Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an irritable petulant feeling
    choler; crossness; fretfulness; petulance; peevishness; fussiness.
  2. noun excessive sensitivity of an organ or body part
    excitability.
  3. noun a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger
    biliousness; pettishness; surliness; snappishness; peevishness; temper.
    • his temper was well known to all his employees

WordNet

Ir`ri*ta*bil"i*ty noun
Etymology
L. irritabilitas: cf. F. irritabilité.
Definitions
  1. The state or quality of being irritable; quick excitability; petulance; fretfulness; as, irritability of temper.
  2. (Physiol.) 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, -- as that quality in plants by which they exhibit motion under suitable stimulation; esp., the property which living muscle processes, of responding either to a direct stimulus of its substance, or to the stimulating influence of its nerve fibers, the response being indicated by a change of form, or contraction; contractility.
  3. (Med.) A condition of morbid excitability of an organ or part of the body; undue susceptibility to the influence of stimuli. See Irritation, n., 3.

Webster 1913