Contextualizebeta

exacerbate

verb
/ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/US/ɪɡˈzæsəˌbeɪt/UK

Etymology

First attested in 1660; borrowed from Latin exacerbātus, perfect passive participle of Latin exacerbō (“to provoke”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out of; thoroughly”) + acerbō (“to embitter, harshen or worsen”).

  1. derived from exacerbō — “to provoke”
  2. borrowed from exacerbātus

Definitions

  1. To make worse (a problem, bad situation, negative feeling, etc.).

    • Near-synonym: worsen
    • The proposed shutdown would exacerbate unemployment problems.
    • Sino-Soviet relations were exacerbated by a border incident on May 9. Beijing charged that thirty Soviet troops, supported by a helicopter and navy boats, crossed the Ussuri River into the Hulin area of Heilongjiang province.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for exacerbate. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA