exasperate
/ɪɡˈzæsp(ə)ɹeɪt/
exasperate means exasperated.
exasperate is pronounced /ɪɡˈzæsp(ə)ɹeɪt/.
Why “exasperate” is a great word
To intensely irritate, frustrate, or provoke someone to the very limit of their patience. Its lineage is one of tactile violence, from the Latin *exasperatus*, the past participle of *exasperare*, from *ex-* ("thoroughly") + *asperare* ("to make rough"), from *asper* ("rough"), first attested in English in 1534. Unlike "exacerbate" (which worsens a situation) or "irritate" (a surface scratch of annoyance), to exasperate is to wear a psyche smooth against the relentless grit of another's folly. It is the sigh that follows a repeated, unheeded request; the clenched jaw during a circular argument whose exit has been walled off; the final, deflating recognition that the obstacle is not the task itself, but the human being beside you—a quiet monument to the friction inherent in all shared existence.
Etymology
First attested in 1534; borrowed from Latin exasperātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin exasperō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asperō (“to make rough”), from asper (“rough”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
adj
- Exasperated.“And this report
Hath ſo exaſperate their King, that hee
Prepares for ſome attempt of Warre.”
- Exasperated; embittered.“Thersites. Do I curse thee?
Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.
Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]”
verb
- To tax the patience of; irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.“And this report
Hath so exasperate [sic] the king that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.”
- To overaspirate the letter h, or to aspirate it whenever it begins a word, once a common form of hypercorrection.“quoted (from Punch magazine) in 2005, David Crystal, The Stories of English
COCKNEY HOBSERVATION. — Cockneys are not the only people who drop or exasperate the 'h's.' It is done by common people in the provinces, and you may laugh at them for it.”
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