The act of exciting, or the condition of being excited to action, by stimulation; -- as, the condition of an organ of sense, when its nerve is affected by some external body; especially, the act of exciting muscle fibers to contraction, by artificial stimulation; as, the irritation of a motor nerve by electricity; also, the condition of a muscle and nerve, under such stimulation.
A condition of morbid excitability or oversensitiveness of an organ or part of the body; a state in which the application of ordinary stimuli produces pain or excessive or vitiated action.
(physiology) 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.
(medicine) A condition of morbid excitability of an organ or part of the body; undue susceptibility to the influence of stimuli.
“I would to God that I, too, possessed the tender irritableness of unhandled sensibility.”
“Together with sodium it regulates the basic acid balance, the osmotic pressure of the cells and the neuromuscular irritableness.”
“Other symptoms suggesting a need for urgency are a blue tinge in the color of the skin, an inability to drink enough fluids, lethargy or irritableness, altered mental status and seizure.”