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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
exacerbate
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
compound/exacerbate a problemformal (= make it worse)
▪ The country’s economic problems are compounded by its ageing population.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
further
▪ The problem is further exacerbated by the prevailing view as to the nature and constituents of leadership in schools.
▪ Blue chips as a whole struggled under that burden, which was further exacerbated by fresh selling of telecom and media issues.
▪ My habit of going for long walking and cycling trips alone further exacerbated my reputation for oddness.
▪ Their problems were further exacerbated by the fact that many people took the Government at their word and simply stopped paying.
▪ This is further exacerbated by the noise in many factories which makes conversation difficult and so relationships with others are diminished.
▪ David Tindle recounts: Minton was further exacerbated by the groundswell of interest in abstract art forming at this time.
only
▪ The pressures and prejudices which attend their activities and relationships only exacerbate their instability.
▪ Also, computer industry trends toward distributed computing, and nomadic or mobile computer users, only exacerbate security challenges.
▪ Government reaction only exacerbated the problem.
■ NOUN
conflict
▪ The political changes in both states have, if anything, exacerbated the conflict.
fact
▪ Their problems were further exacerbated by the fact that many people took the Government at their word and simply stopped paying.
▪ The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many of the mines are now within built-up areas.
problem
▪ The structure of modern social life merely exacerbates the problems faced by families.
▪ They would exacerbate the problems of unbalanced power that threaten any cooperative relationship.
▪ This will exacerbate the problem of deciding whether or not to prosecute.
▪ However much they hated the loneliness, in some ways the new managers exacerbated the problem by their behavior.
▪ Harsh weather and central heating make skin drier and cleaning with water can exacerbate the problem.
▪ But this time the results have only compounded and exacerbated the problems of the Republican Party.
▪ Dumping of excess inventory by some manufacturers has exacerbated the problem.
▪ Unfortunately their efforts typically exacerbate the problem.
shortage
▪ The situation was made worse by the 1986 earthquake, which exacerbated the housing shortage and destroyed or damaged numerous schools.
▪ Market specialists said yesterday's price rises were exacerbated by a shortage of stock in many leading companies.
▪ This exacerbated the growing shortage of food, fuel and raw materials.
▪ Landlords believe that the Rent Acts unfairly interfere with freedom of contract and exacerbate the housing shortage.
situation
▪ The current cuts in public expenditure will inevitably exacerbate this situation.
▪ Alternating attempts at forthright assertion of authority and tentative gestures of conciliation exacerbated the situation.
▪ Stern warnings broadcast over the student public-address system in the evening of 8 October exacerbated the situation.
▪ The damp conditions would exacerbate such a situation.
tension
▪ Urging restraint in the development of conventional forces, the statement said that otherwise these could exacerbate political tensions.
▪ We are not interested, frankly, in doing anything that would exacerbate the tensions.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Howe's unkind remarks have exacerbated racial tensions in the community.
▪ Ironically, the government's reassurances may have exacerbated fear about the disease.
▪ The family's problems were exacerbated when Walter lost his job.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Financial problems have been exacerbated by declining enrollment.
▪ Friction between the generations is exacerbated when younger staff grasp the new idea and their creativity is suddenly released.
▪ The floods have been exacerbated by our stupidity.
▪ The problem is further exacerbated by the prevailing view as to the nature and constituents of leadership in schools.
▪ Their dilemmas are similar to those of many adoptive families but are exacerbated by the racial and ethnic issues already discussed.
▪ Their speeches had a pitiful, pleading quality about them, exacerbating the problem.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Exacerbate

Exacerbate \Ex*ac"er*bate\ ([e^]gz*[a^]s"[~e]r*b[=a]t; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Exacerbated ([e^]gz*[a^]s"[~e]r*b[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Exacerbating ([e^]gz*[a^]s"[~e]r*b[=a]`t[i^]ng).] [L. exacerbatus, p. p. of exacerbare; ex out (intens.) + acerbare. See Acerbate.] To render more violent or bitter; to irritate; to exasperate; to imbitter, as passions or disease.
--Brougham.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
exacerbate

1650s, a back-formation from exacerbation or else from Latin exacerbatus, past participle of exacerbare "irritate, provoke." Related: Exacerbated; exacerbating.

Wiktionary
exacerbate

vb. (context transitive English) To make worse (pain, anger, etc.); aggravate.

WordNet
exacerbate
  1. v. make worse; "This drug aggravates the pain" [syn: worsen, aggravate, exasperate] [ant: better]

  2. exasperate or irritate [syn: exasperate, aggravate]

Usage examples of "exacerbate".

The hysteria about the current boson formation which was being supported and exacerbated by religious leaders.

My morose mood is exacerbated by the fact that the four members of Clueless Crew are even chummier than usual.

Americans--the hunger for a better life--an end of rawness, newness, sourness, distressful and exacerbated misery, the taking from the great plantation of the earth and of America our rich inheritance of splendour, ease, and abundance--good food, and sensual love, and noble cookery--the warmth of radiant colour and of wine--pulse of the blood--an end of misery, bitterness, hunger and unrest upon the breast of everlasting plenty--the inheritance of exultancy and joy for ever, which some foul, corrosive poison in our lives--bitter enigma that it is!

The High Table on its dais was so far removed from the opposite end of the Hall that those who graced it could scarcely be expected to discern the countenances of those seated at the lower trestles, or even the central onesa state of affairs that, despite the blaze of countless girandoles, lusters, and candelabra, was exacerbated by the soft haze of steam and incense filling the air.

Roxbury derived some consolation for his exacerbated emotions from the fact that Jynx had not withdrawn from his embrace.

Hitlerites snarled and threatened, but rather against Poland than France, and when the tension became too great it found relief by outrages upon Communists, Pacificists and intellectuals and by an exacerbated persecution of those whipping-boys of the Western civilization, the Jews.

The excruciatingly prolonged nature of the repatriation process, together with Soviet unwillingness to provide accurate information about the number and identity of their prisoners, greatly exacerbated this animosity.

Her temper exacerbated by the treatment being meted out to her, Madame de Buys drew herself up.

And there, in exacerbating viciousness, the resharpened vision of the maze exposed an insidious, fresh twist: the geas of Desh-thiere had not been quiescent.

Consequently, his relations to the wooers are newly exacerbated, particularly with Antinous, the most intimidating of the lot, who is only a little older than Telemachus but just old enough actually to remember Odysseus from his own childhood.

They were sorry, of course, for the failure of the local canneries around Kachemak Bay, exacerbated and accelerated by the urban renewal following the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake.

This mistake was exacerbated during his battle with the Silicon God when he had to compress himself, to prune his memory and programs down to the very simple remnants of Ede who haunted the devotionary computer.

The slanders of Sir Thomas exacerbate the feelings of Ricardians, but his prose is not particularly stimulating.

My morose mood is exacerbated by the fact that the four members of Clueless Crew are even chummier than usual.

To that end, some misguided souls have sought to exacerbate the differences between Awari and his sister.