exacerbate

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin exacerbo (“to provoke”); ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + acerbo (“to embitter, harshen or worsen”).

(deprecated template usage)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzæsəˌbeɪt/, /ɪkˈsæs-/
• IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

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)[1]

     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

• exacerbatingly
• exacerbation

Related terms

• acerbate

Translations

make worse

• Armenian: սաստկացնել (hy) (sastkacʻnel)
• Bulgarian: влошавам (bg) (vlošavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使惡化／使恶化, 使恶化 (shǐ èhuà), 加劇／加剧 (zh) (jiājù), 加剧 (zh) (jiājù), 加重 (zh) (jiāzhòng)

• Danish: forværre, skærpe
• Dutch: verslechteren (nl), verergeren (nl), exacerberen (nl)
• Finnish: pahentaa (fi)
• French: exacerber (fr),agraver (fr), empirer (fr)
• German: verschlimmern (de), verschärfen (de)
• Italian: esacerbare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forverre

  Nynorsk: forverre

• Portuguese: exacerbar (pt)
• Russian: ухудшать (ru) (uxudšatʹ) (uxudšát’), усугублять (ru) impf (usugubljatʹ)
• Spanish: exacerbar (es), agravar (es)
• Swedish: förvärra (sv), skärpa (sv)
• Turkish: kötüleştirmek (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: exacerbo
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• exasperate

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “exacerbate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) exacerbāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exacerbō