exasperation
Americannoun
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an act or instance of exasperating; provocation.
-
the state of being exasperated; irritation; extreme annoyance.
Her exasperation at being interrupted was understandable.
Etymology
Origin of exasperation
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin exasperātiōn-, stem of exasperātiō “roughness, bitterness”; equivalent to exasperate + -ion
Explanation
If you've ever become so frustrated with someone or something that you feel like you're at the end of your rope, you have experienced exasperation. You are fed up! Exasperation goes back to the Latin verb exasperare, meaning “to make rough.” When you are in a state of exasperation, you feel like something annoying you've had to put up with has put you in a rough mood. If you take up golf, you might find it to be a source of relaxation or a source of exasperation. Watching you try to teach your dog to fetch, I'm not sure which is more amusing: his stubbornness or your exasperation.
Vocabulary lists containing exasperation
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 1
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A Raisin in the Sun
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Exasperation can easily tip into anger, and there are easy laughs to be had there.
From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2022
Exasperation with Credit Suisse in particular is prompting Switzerland to rethink a system in which top bankers have been largely untouchable, Reuters reported here in May.
From Reuters • Dec. 5, 2021
Exasperation with the legislative logjam has extended across the party spectrum and beyond Virginia.
From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2021
In 2008, Cooper undertook an arduous journey to a place whose name, he felt, was summoning him: Prime Head, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, north of Exasperation Inlet, Cape Disappointment, and Cape Longing.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 30, 2019
Exasperation at the downright folly of the scheme, and its threatened results, may have actuated him.
From The Art of Disappearing by Smith, John Talbot
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
