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Webster 1913 Edition


Exacerbate

Ex-ac′er-bate

(ĕgz-ăs′ẽr-bāt; 277)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Exacerbated
(ĕgz-ăs′ẽr-bāˊtĕd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Exacerbating
(ĕgz-ăs′ẽr-bāˊtĭng)
.]
[L.
exacerbatus
, p. p. of
exacerbare
;
ex
out (intens.) +
acerbare
. See
Acerbate
.]
To render more violent or bitter; to irritate; to exasperate; to imbitter, as passions or disease.
Brougham.

Webster 1828 Edition


Exacerbate

EXACERB'ATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. exacerbo, to irritate; ex and acerbo, from acerbus, severe, bitter, harsh, sour. See Harvest.]
1.
To irritate; to exasperate; to inflame angry passions; to imbitter; to increase malignant qualities.
2.
To increase the violence of a disease.

Definition 2024


exacerbate

exacerbate

English

Verb

exacerbate (third-person singular simple present exacerbates, present participle exacerbating, simple past and past participle exacerbated)

  1. (transitive) To make worse (a problem, bad situation, negative feeling, etc.); aggravate.
    The proposed shutdown would exacerbate unemployment problems.
    • 2013, Louise Taylor, English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing (in The Guardian, 20 August 2013)
      The reasons for this growing disconnect are myriad and complex but the situation is exacerbated by the reality that those English players who do smash through our game's "glass ceiling" command radically inflated transfer fees.

Derived terms

Translations

See also


Latin

Verb

exacerbāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of exacerbō