Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Causing irritation, especially physical irritation.
  • noun A source of irritation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Rendering null and void.
  • Irritating; exasperating; specifically, producing pain, heat, or tension; causing inflammation: as, an irritant poison.
  • noun That which irritates or exasperates; specifically, a therapeutic agent that causes pain, heat, or tension, or a poison that produces inflammation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Scots Law) Rendering null and void; conditionally invalidating.
  • adjective Irritating; producing irritation or inflammation.
  • noun That which irritates or excites.
  • noun (Physiol. & Med.) Any agent by which irritation is produced
  • noun (Toxicology) A poison that produces inflammation.
  • noun See under Counter.
  • noun (Toxicology) a poison that produces inflammation without any corrosive action upon the tissues.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Causing irritation or inflammation.
  • noun Any medication designed to cause irritation
  • noun A source of irritation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun something that causes irritation and annoyance

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Latin irrītāns, irrītant-, present participle of irrītāre, to irritate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French

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