Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To increase the bitterness or virulence of; make more violent, as a disease, or angry, hostile, or malignant feelings; aggravate; exasperate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To render more violent or bitter; to irritate; to exasperate; to imbitter, as passions or disease.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To make worse (
pain ,anger , etc.)worse ;aggravate . - verb transitive To
irritate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make worse
- verb exasperate or irritate
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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"How everybody's all pretending they know what in hell the word exacerbate means."
Alvin Journeyman Card, Orson Scott 1995
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Although litigation may be necessary at some point, Mr. King's lawsuit has only served to "exacerbate" negotiations with BP, Mr. Riley said in an interview.
Spill Payments Irk Alabama Business Mike Esterl 2010
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He also warned Nato not to "exacerbate" its presence in the region.
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Why am I sure the Pope's reply will be couched in some stupid definition of "exacerbate" along the lines of "encourage promiscuous behaviour"?
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Anamika, who tied for fifth in her debut last year, kept both hands behind her back as she rattled off "exacerbate" and "foggara."
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He added that the proliferation of netbooks and other mobile devices featuring ARM-based processors would be sure to "exacerbate" a rising demand for faster data access.
TG Daily 2010
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Geeslin indicated that increasing TWIA rates at this time would "exacerbate" the burdens faced by Texas living along the coast but recognized that "some modest rate increases" might
Insurance Journal 2009
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So we kind of exacerbate that dynamic to the fullest.
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And obviously you kind of exacerbate it by currency.
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Both Wordsworth and Coleridge left Cambridge with a love of literature, and a revolutionary fervor that would only exacerbate their troubles.
midnightisclose commented on the word exacerbate
"And I have to say that what exacerbates the problem is..." - "A Miracle Would Happen," The Last Five Years
January 10, 2007
oroboros commented on the word exacerbate
exAcerBATE
May 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word exacerbate
But abate is (roughly) an antonym of exacerbate…?
May 8, 2008
mollusque commented on the word exacerbate
That's why it's listed on Kangaroo Words 2.
May 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word exacerbate
Did look down the list but it's so gigantic I missed it! Damn it.
May 9, 2008
thesaurosie commented on the word exacerbate
As I always say, I use the word 'exacerbate' at least once in every school assignment, because almost everything will inevitably get worse ^_^
July 4, 2009
660774855 commented on the word exacerbate
Eating Animals
July 2, 2010
myth17 commented on the word exacerbate
"These days, schizophrenia is often imagined as the quintessential brain disease, an expression of underlying organic vulnerability perhaps exacerbated by environmental stress, but as real and as obdurate as kidney failure" -- American Scholar
August 27, 2012
mohitanand commented on the word exacerbate
make worse
Her sleeplessness exacerbated her cold--when she woke up the next day, her sinuses were completely blocked.
October 12, 2016