exasperate
Americanverb (used with object)
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exasperates,
present (3rd person singular)
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exasperated,
past participle, past
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exasperating
present participle
adjective
verb
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to cause great irritation or anger to; infuriate
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to cause (an unpleasant feeling, condition, etc) to worsen; aggravate
adjective
Synonym Usage
See irritate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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exasperaternoun
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exasperationnoun
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exasperatingadjective
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unexasperatingadjective
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exasperatedlyadverb
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exasperatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exasperatesimple
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exasperatessimple
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have exasperatedperfect
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has exasperatedperfect
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am exasperatingprogressive
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are exasperatingprogressive
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is exasperatingprogressive
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have been exasperatingperfect progressive
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has been exasperatingperfect progressive
Past
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exasperatedsimple
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had exasperatedperfect
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was exasperatingprogressive
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were exasperatingprogressive
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had been exasperatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exasperate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin exasperātus (past participle of exasperāre “to make rough, provoke”), equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + asper “harsh, rough” + -ātus -ate 1
Compare meaning
How does exasperate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
To exasperate someone is to annoy him or her to the point of impatience, frustration and irritation, like when you exasperate a busy waiter by asking questions like "what are all the ingredients in the salad dressing?" and making him repeat the specials five times. The verb exasperate comes from the Latin word exasperatus, which means “to roughen,” “irritate,” or “provoke.” To exasperate is to make something that is already bad even worse, like when sitting in traffic that is sure to make you late, you exasperate the person who is driving by bringing up an unpleasant topic, or the addition of twenty more students that exasperates the crowding in the cafeteria.
Vocabulary lists containing exasperate
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
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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:
Panjabi portrays Reena’s mother, Suman, a reserved but resolute woman and member of the Jehovah’s Witness faith who runs a home with rules that exasperate her eldest child.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
Penn State has four 11-win seasons since 2016 under Franklin, but here are the numbers that exasperate Nittany Lions fans: 1-9 against Ohio State; 3-16 vs. top-10 teams; 1-13 vs.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2023
The past-and-present double investigations that ensue — and, of course, eventually come together — are not airtight; the characters, especially Sarah, are prone to the kind of head-scratching decisions that exasperate the true mystery fan.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2023
However, quite how the hosts did not manage to win will mystify and exasperate the new man at the helm.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2022
Such things exasperate a soldier more than the front-line.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
What further exasperates the residents of the complex is that there is a GP surgery less than 100m from their building.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2024
Ragnar speaks only Icelandic, which baffles and sometimes exasperates the priest.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2023
Norma López, a 56-year-old homemaker, has a post leaning just feet away from her balcony in Loiza, and it exasperates her every time she sees it.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
Hammarskjöld’s death is one of many unsolved mysteries in “Cold Case Hammarskjöld,” a twisty, thorny new documentary that grips, jolts and exasperates in roughly equal measure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2019
She exasperates him, as she does everyone who roots for her success, but he loves her mind and courage.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
It’s funny, my mother used to look at me with an expression that was neither mocking nor exasperated, merely seasoned, and say, “Baby, not everything needs to be a production.”
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Lopez gets calls from exasperated merchants dealing with vandalism and with people blocking their storefronts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
At one point, an exasperated Wataka pulled out his phone to prove that the composers had been dead for generations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Rama has appeared exasperated in his response to the protests.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
His boat capsized, then righted itself and began turning over and over; each time his exasperated head bobbed up, he gasped for his possibly final breath.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
Dealing with a call center or an automated teller might have been exasperating.
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
The play-calling could be as exasperating in victory as well as defeat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
At some forecourts in Bamako, motorists are met by a note bearing three, exasperating words - "no fuel today".
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025
Some of them, in fact, are quite exasperating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
She shakes her head like I’m so exasperating.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
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.
