Comprehensive
Dictionary Suite
Help
Help
Help
 
Advanced Dictionary      
Lookup History
exacerbate

ex·ac·er·bate

exacerbate

 
pronunciation:
ihg zae sr beIt
features:
Word Combinations (verb)
part of speech: transitive verb
inflections: exacerbates, exacerbating, exacerbated
definition 1: to increase the painfulness or severity of (illness, suffering, hard feelings, or the like); aggravate.
The government's indecision only exacerbated what was already a bad situation.Applying heat to the injury will exacerbate the swelling.Their refusal to speak to each other exacerbated the tension between them.
antonyms:
allay, alleviate, assuage, counteract, heal, moderate, relieve
similar words:
aggravate, compound, exasperate
definition 2: to cause bitterness or exasperation in (someone).
Their stubborn denial of the facts exacerbated him.
similar words:
embitter
Word CombinationsSubscriber feature About this feature
derivations: exacerbatingly (adv.), exacerbation (n.)