exasperation

American  

[ig-zas-puh-rey-shuhn] / ɪgˌzæs pəˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. an act or instance of exasperating; provocation.

2. the state of being exasperated; irritation; extreme annoyance.

   Her exasperation at being interrupted was understandable.

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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.

Example Sentences

Exasperation mounted with crater-pocked roads and error-ridden, runaway utility bills.

From New York Times • May 1, 2023

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 was in every letter of every word.

From The Story of a Doctor's Telephone?Told by His Wife by Firebaugh, Ellen M.

Related Words

• anger
• annoyance
• displeasure
• fury
• ire
• irritation
• pique
• rage
• resentment