exacerbate

Language: en

🇺🇸 /ɪˈgzæsɜrˌbeɪt/

📖 Definitions

  1. verb
    To make a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse; to aggravate or intensify something undesirable.; To irritate or inflame a physical condition, such as a disease or wound, causing it to become more severe.; To provoke or exasperate a person; to make someone more angry or bitter.; (Archaic) To embitter or make more acrimonious in feeling or disposition.

🔗 Details

Word forms

3rd sing.: exacerbates Past: exacerbated Past part.: exacerbated Pres part.: exacerbating

Collocations

exacerbate the problemexacerbate the situationexacerbate tensionsexacerbate symptomsexacerbate painexacerbate the crisis

Derivatives

exacerbationexacerbating

Synonyms

aggravateworsenintensifycompoundinflameheighten

Antonyms

alleviateamelioratemitigateimprove

Commonly confused

exasperate
EN: 'Exasperate' means to irritate or annoy someone; 'exacerbate' means to make a situation or condition worse.
aggravate
EN: 'Aggravate' can informally mean to annoy (like exasperate), while 'exacerbate' strictly means to worsen and is more formal.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember the 'c' before 'e' (exacer-bate, not 'exaserbate') and the 'b' in the middle. It is often misspelled as 'exaccerbate' or 'exacerabate'.

💬 Examples

  1. The new policy only served to exacerbate the already tense relationship between the two countries.

  2. Scratching the rash will only exacerbate the inflammation and delay healing.

  3. His dismissive tone only exacerbated her frustration with the situation.

  4. The prolonged dispute exacerbated the minds of both parties against each other.