acerbate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make sour or bitter.
-
to exasperate.
adjective
verb
-
to embitter or exasperate
-
to make sour or bitter
Etymology
Origin of acerbate
1725–35; < Latin acerbātus, past participle of acerbāre to make bitter. See acerbic, -ate 1
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.
Fires ravaging huge swaths of countryside only acerbate the climate crisis, he said.
From Seattle Times
Without a trade deal, it would have acerbated chaos at the border where checks on goods will have to be increased since Britain is fully out of the 27-nation bloc.
From Seattle Times
Scientists insist that climate change has acerbated already ripe conditions for calamitous fires, while critics have contended that such devastation is nothing new to the Australian landscape.
From Fox News
"Instead of advancing the United States' interests, politicising trade will only acerbate the country's economic woes, and poison the overall China-US relationship," it said.
From BBC
"But instead of advancing the United States' interests, politicising trade will only acerbate the country's economic woes, and poison the overall China-U.S. relationship."
From Reuters
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.
