The meanings of exasperate and irritate largely overlap; however, exasperate suggests galling annoyance and the arousing of extreme impatience. //...

The words nettle and irritate can be used in similar contexts, but nettle suggests a sharp but passing annoyance or stinging. // your pompous attit...

While the synonyms peeve and irritate are close in meaning, peeve suggests arousing fretful often petty or querulous irritation. // a toddler peeve...

The words provoke and irritate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, provoke implies an arousing of strong annoyance that may excite...

In some situations, the words rile and irritate are roughly equivalent. However, rile implies inducing an angry or resentful agitation. // the new...