harass vs irritate

harass and irritate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
harass	No	No	Yes	No
irritate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, irritate is a hypernym of harass; that is, irritate is a word with a broader meaning than harass:

Other hypernyms of harass include annoy, bother, chafe, devil, get at, get to, gravel, nark, nettle, rag, rile, vex.

harass (verb)	irritate (verb)
exhaust by attacking repeatedly	excite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame
annoy continually or chronically	excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus
	cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations