When you're irritated, you feel annoyed, bothered, or slightly angry about something. It's that scratchy, impatient feeling you get when your little brother keeps poking you during a car ride, or when you're trying to concentrate on homework but construction noise keeps interrupting you.

Irritated sits somewhere between mildly annoyed and actually angry. You might feel irritated when someone chews loudly near you, when you have to explain the same thing for the fifth time, or when a mosquito buzzes around your ear right as you're falling asleep. Your skin can also become irritated: red, itchy, or uncomfortable from something that bothers it, like a scratchy sweater tag or poison ivy.

When you're irritated, you haven't lost your temper, but you're definitely not in the mood for whatever's bothering you. Your patience is wearing thin, like when you've asked your friend to stop tapping their pencil three times already, and they're still doing it.