Word.ws English Dictionary

irritainment

irritainment noun: entertainment that annoys, embarrasses, or upsets more than or as much as it entertains, whether unintentionally or by design.

Noun

irritainment (uncountable)

  1. Entertainment that annoys, embarrasses, or upsets more than or as much as it entertains, whether unintentionally or by design.
    • Because their volume interjects such an overwhelming ambiance to the party, make sure that your entertainers are the right ones. You want entertainment, not irritainment.1997, Jaymz Bee, Cocktail Parties for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 127
  2. A media spectacle, particularly a scandal, that is simultaneously irritating and engrossing.
    • Like others, I followed Clinton's apologies on TV and in print and laughed at the "I'm Sorry Chorus" from the also-unclean GOP choir. I've said it before: This is "irritainment" - a macabre mix of irritation and entertainment. The nastiness is a crime scene right in front of us.1998 September 26, Lewis W. Diuguid, “Changing channels on scandal”, in The Kansas City Star

Origin of irritainment

Blend of irritating + entertainment.

Questions about irritainment

What does irritainment mean?
Irritainment means entertainment that annoys, embarrasses, or upsets more than or as much as it entertains, whether unintentionally or by design.
What part of speech is irritainment?
Irritainment is a noun.

Words near irritainment in the dictionary

  1. irritable hearts
  2. irritable male syndrome
  3. irritableness
  4. irritablenesses
  5. irritably
  6. irritainment
  7. irritance
  8. irritances
  9. irritancies
  10. irritancy
  11. irritant

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: irritainment (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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