exacerbate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
exacerbates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exacerbated,
past participle, past
-
exacerbating
present participle
verb
-
to make (pain, disease, emotion, etc) more intense; aggravate
-
to exasperate or irritate (a person)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
exacerbatesimple
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exacerbatessimple
-
have exacerbatedperfect
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has exacerbatedperfect
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am exacerbatingprogressive
-
are exacerbatingprogressive
-
is exacerbatingprogressive
-
have been exacerbatingperfect progressive
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has been exacerbatingperfect progressive
Past
-
exacerbatedsimple
-
had exacerbatedperfect
-
was exacerbatingprogressive
-
were exacerbatingprogressive
-
had been exacerbatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exacerbate
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin exacerbātus (past participle of exacerbāre “to exasperate, provoke”), equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + acerbātus acerbate
Compare meaning
How does exacerbate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
For a formal-sounding verb that means to make worse, try exacerbate. If you're in trouble, complaining about it will only exacerbate the problem. Exacerbate is related to the adjective acrid, often used to describe sharp-smelling smoke. Think of exacerbate then as a sharp or bitter thing that makes something worse. A drought will exacerbate a country's food shortage. Worsen, intensify, aggravate and compound are similar, but exacerbate has the sense of an irritant being added in to make something bad even worse.
Vocabulary lists containing exacerbate
Grade 9, List 1
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 2
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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.
See Examples For:
Ryan said increases like this exacerbate an already serious cost of living crisis for students like him.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
LaTanya Walker considered ordering abortion pills for her niece, she said, but she ultimately did not because she worried about whether they could exacerbate medical conditions.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
The planet's water cycle is becoming increasingly erratic, swinging between too little and too much, the United Nations warned Thursday, with an unprecedented El Nino expected to exacerbate the long-term trend.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Bumblebee Conservation Trust raised concerns that 2026 may exacerbate a declining trend in bumblebee populations as flowers wither and bees fail to forage effectively.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
Zeitoun knew not to exacerbate the situation, and assumed that when they were interviewed by a superior, everything would be explained.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
“This is just another bad piece of news which exacerbates a lot of the bearish sentiment around long-term Treasury securities.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
“It also exacerbates the pressures facing America’s electric grid by forcing critical existing power plants into early retirement and severely restricting the operation of new natural gas plants,” Matheson said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
This in turn exacerbates dangers such as flooding.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
"That does nothing to resolve conflict; science shows it only exacerbates the conflict."
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Greg thinks he helps on busy nights, but really, he only exacerbates the problem.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
In legal filings before her execution date, Pike’s attorneys argued that because of a blood disorder, using pentobarbital exacerbated her risk of developing the condition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
The cost of college has been fueling these concerns for years and the recent challenges that young college graduates are facing finding entry-level jobs in the AI era have only exacerbated them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Cuba relies heavily on fuel imports, meaning tight US sanctions and an oil blockade since the start of the year have exacerbated existing shortages.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
McKinley stages a few bullet-sweating sequences of peril, including a particularly brutal transport of gold bars across a crumbling rope bridge and an underwater accident exacerbated by floating logs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
To keep Ngawang from having to exert himself, which would have exacerbated his edema, at several points during the descent, Beidleman picked up the ailing Sherpa and carried him on his back.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
The series of radical reforms, including scaling back jury trials, were presented as the best way of turning around record backlogs which, in turn, were exacerbating the prison population crisis.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Major markets may be taking their signal from U.S. bonds, but credibility gaps in Europe are exacerbating the moves, they added.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Scientists broadly agree that the globalized weather impacts of El Nino stack on top of climate change -- exacerbating rainfall in some places, drought and heat in others.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
"Abdominal obesity reduces circulating vitamin D, and that deficiency impairs the immune system, exacerbating the chronic inflammation caused by excess fat and drastically increasing the risk of mortality," Alexandre explains to Agência FAPESP.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
A single CFC molecule is about ten thousand times more efficient at exacerbating greenhouse effects than a molecule of carbon dioxide–and carbon dioxide is of course no slouch itself as a greenhouse gas.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
