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Irritation vs Pestilence - What's the difference?

irritation | pestilence | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between irritation and pestilence

is that irritation is the act of irritating, or exciting, or the state of being irritated; excitement; stimulation, usually of an undue and uncomfortable kind; especially, excitement of anger or passion; provocation; annoyance; anger while pestilence is any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.

As a proper noun Pestilence is

the personification of pestilence, often depicted riding a white horse.

irritation

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of irritating, or exciting, or the state of being irritated; excitement; stimulation, usually of an undue and uncomfortable kind; especially, excitement of anger or passion; provocation; annoyance; anger.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=Anna Lena Phillips , title=Sneaky Silk Moths , volume=100, issue=2, page=172 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}
  • 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.
  • Derived terms

    * irritative * irritant

    pestilence

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
  • * 1949 - Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart,
  • The snowshoe-rabbits build up through the years until they reach a climax when they seem to be everywhere; then with dramatic suddenness their pestilence falls upon them.