exasperate

English

Etymology

From Latin exasperō; ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asperō (“make rough”), from asper (“rough”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzæsp(ə)ɹeɪt/
• IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzɑːspəɹeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æspəɹeɪt
• Hyphenation: ex‧as‧per‧ate

Verb

1. To tax the patience of, irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.
   • c. 1611 William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 3, scene 6:

     And this report

     Hath so exasperate [sic] the king that he

     Prepares for some attempt of war.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 3:

     The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, chapter 11:

     Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants; always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, exasperating the public.

   • 1987 January 5, "Woman of the Year: Corazon Aquino," Time:

     [S]he exasperates her security men by acting as if she were protected by some invisible shield.

   • 2007 June 4, "Loyal Mail," Times Online (UK) (retrieved 7 Oct 2010):

     News that Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is set to receive a bumper bonus will exasperate postal workers.

Translations

frustrate, vex, annoy

• Bulgarian: раздразвам (bg) (razdrazvam), разгневявам (bg) (razgnevjavam)
• Catalan: exasperar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使(sb.) 恼怒 (zh) (shǐ (sb. ) nǎo nù)

• Dutch: tot wanhoop drijven
• Finnish: ärsyttää (fi), suututtaa (fi)
• French: exaspérer (fr)
• German: verärgern (de), aufbringen (de), auf die Palme bringen
• Greek: εξοργίζω (el) (exorgízo)
• Hungarian: dühít (hu), feldühít (hu), felbőszít (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: iracigar (io), exasperar (io)
• Irish: cráigh
• Maori: whakahōhā, whakakawakawa, rangirangi
• Persian: کفر کسی را در آوردن (kofr-e kasi râ dar âvardan)
• Polish: wkurzać
• Portuguese: exasperar (pt)
• Russian: серди́ть (ru) (serdítʹ), раздража́ть (ru) (razdražátʹ), возмущать (ru) (vozmuščatʹ), изводи́ть (ru) (izvodítʹ), (informal) беси́ть (ru) (besítʹ), приводи́ть в я́рость (privodítʹ v járostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: sàraich
• Spanish: exasperar (es)

Adjective

exasperate (comparative more exasperate, superlative most exasperate)

1. (obsolete) exasperated; embittered.
   • c. 1601 William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act V, Scene 1,^[1]

     Thersites. Do I curse thee?

     Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.

     Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman & Hall, 1857, Book 4, p. 177,^[2]

     Like swallows which the exasperate dying year

     Sets spinning […]

Related terms

• asperate
• asperity

 

See also

• exacerbate

References

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

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eksaspeˈrate/, /eɡzaspeˈrate/

Verb

exasperate

1. adverbial present passive participle of exasperar

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.peˈraː.te/, [ɛks̠äs̠pɛˈräːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.peˈra.te/, [eɡzäspeˈräːt̪e]

Verb

(deprecated template usage) exasperāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exasperō