irascible

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.

irascible

easily provoked, testy, touchy, short-tempered: an irascible boss; an irascible response

Not to be confused with:

erasable – capable of being rubbed out; easily erased: Write in pencil so that it is erasable.

i·ras·ci·ble

(ĭ-răs′ə-bəl, ī-răs′-)

adj.

1. Prone to outbursts of temper; easily angered.

2. Characterized by or resulting from anger.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin īrāscibilis, from Latin īrāscī, to be angry, from īra, anger; see eis- in Indo-European roots.]

i·ras′ci·bil′i·ty, i·ras′ci·ble·ness n.

i·ras′ci·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

irascible

(ɪˈræsɪbəl)

adj

1. easily angered; irritable

2. showing irritability: an irascible action.

[C16: from Late Latin īrascibilis, from Latin īra anger]

iˌrasciˈbility, iˈrascibleness n

iˈrascibly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

i•ras•ci•ble

(ɪˈræs ə bəl)

adj.

1. easily provoked to anger; very irritable.

2. characterized or produced by anger: an irascible response.

[1350–1400; Middle English irascibel < Late Latin īrāscibilis, derivative of Latin īrāsc(ī) to grow angry]

i•ras`ci•bil′i•ty, i•ras′ci•ble•ness, n.

i•ras′ci•bly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.	1.	irascible - quickly aroused to anger; "a hotheaded commander" hotheaded, hot-tempered, quick-tempered, short-tempered, choleric ill-natured - having an irritable and unpleasant disposition
	2.	irascible - characterized by anger; "a choleric outburst"; "an irascible response" choleric angry - feeling or showing anger; "angry at the weather"; "angry customers"; "an angry silence"; "sending angry letters to the papers"

irascible

adjective bad-tempered, cross, irritable, crabbed, touchy, cantankerous, peppery, tetchy, ratty (Brit. & N.Z. informal), testy, chippy (informal), short-tempered, hot-tempered, quick-tempered, choleric, narky (Brit. slang) He had an irascible temper.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

irascible

adjective

1. Having or showing a bad temper:

bad-tempered, cantankerous, crabbed, cranky, cross, disagreeable, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, ill-tempered, irritable, nasty, peevish, petulant, querulous, snappish, snappy, surly, testy, ugly, waspish.

Informal: crabby, mean.

Idiom: out of sorts.

2. Easily annoyed:

choleric, peppery, quick-tempered, testy, tetchy, touchy.

Translations

سَريع الغَضَب

popudlivý

hidsig

gechjähzornig

ευέξαπτος ευερέθιστος

irascible

ärrituv

irascible

uppstökkur

irascibile

greit supykstantis

viegli aizkaitināms

asabîkolay kızansinirli

易怒的

irascible

[ɪˈræsɪbl] ADJ → irascible, colérico

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

irascible

[ɪˈræsɪb^əl] adj → irascible

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

irascible

adj → reizbar, erregbar, jähzornig; temperament also → jähzornig, heftig, aufbrausend

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

irascible

[ɪˈræsɪbl] adj → irascibile

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

irascible

(iˈrӕsibl) adjective

irritable; easily made angry.

iˈrascibly adverb

iˌrasciˈbility noun

irascible

a. irascible, que se irrita fácilmente.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

This dear good Sviazhsky, keeping a stock of ideas simply for social purposes, and obviously having some other principles hidden from Levin, while with the crowd, whose name is legion, he guided public opinion by ideas he did not share; that irascible country gentleman, perfectly correct in the conclusions that he had been worried into by life, but wrong in his exasperation against a whole class, and that the best class in Russia; his own dissatisfaction with the work he had been doing, and the vague hope of finding a remedy for all this--all was blended in a sense of inward turmoil, and anticipation of some solution near at hand.

View in context

So too the poet, in representing men who are irascible or indolent, or have other defects of character, should preserve the type and yet ennoble it.

View in context

The principles of definition, the law of contradiction, the fallacy of arguing in a circle, the distinction between the essence and accidents of a thing or notion, between means and ends, between causes and conditions; also the division of the mind into the rational, concupiscent, and irascible elements, or of pleasures and desires into necessary and unnecessary-- these and other great forms of thought are all of them to be found in the Republic, and were probably first invented by Plato.

View in context

Black George was, in the main, a peaceable kind of fellow, and nothing choleric nor rash; yet did he bear about him something of what the antients called the irascible, and which his wife, if she had been endowed with much wisdom, would have feared.

View in context

He could not understand her sad face or the tears that rolled silently down her cheeks from time to time; for Hannah had always represented her aunt Miranda as an irascible, parsimonious old woman, who would be no loss to the world whenever she should elect to disappear from it.

View in context

Wrench was a small, neat, bilious man, with a well-dressed wig: he had a laborious practice, an irascible temper, a lymphatic wife and seven children; and he was already rather late before setting out on a four-miles drive to meet Dr.

View in context

The leader of the orchestra, an irascible elderly monkey, sat on a revolving stool to which he was securely attached.

View in context

"But do you see, Professor," replied our irascible companion, "that we shall absolutely die of hunger in this iron cage?"

View in context

I mean such conditions as insanity, irascibility, and so on: for people are said to be mad or irascible in virtue of these.

View in context

Hot-headed and impatient at all times, he had been rendered irascible by the fatigues of the journey, and the condition of his feet, which were chafed and sore.

View in context

All that happened in the instant that Tarzan turned to meet the charge of the irascible rhinoceros might take long to tell, and yet would have taxed the swiftest lens to record.

View in context

Like some poor devils ashore that happen to know an irascible great man, they make distant unobtrusive salutations to him in the street, lest if they pursued the acquaintance further, they might receive a summary thump for their presumption.