exasperated
/ɪɡˈzæspəɹeɪtɪd/
exasperated means having one's patience greatly taxed; greatly annoyed; made furious. It carries an Arena rating of 1489, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, exasperated ranks #1,903 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,504 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #5,923 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #6,592 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
exasperated is pronounced /ɪɡˈzæspəɹeɪtɪd/.
Why “exasperated” is a great word
Feeling one’s patience thoroughly worn down, intensely irritated and vexed by persistent provocation or helplessness. From Latin exasperatus, past participle of exasperare, from ex- ("thoroughly") + asperare ("to roughen, make harsh"), from asper ("rough, harsh"), first attested in English in 1534. Unlike “annoyed,” which suggests a fleeting, surface-level prick, or “enraged,” which implies a sudden, hot-blooded fury, exasperated is a duller, deeper corrosion—the friction of a problem that will not smooth. It is the slow clench of the jaw after the third repeated question, the damp heat of a forehead pressed to cool glass after a fruitless argument, the brittle silence that follows a tirade of petty obstacles; it is the quiet, weary recognition that some obstacles are not to be overcome, only endured.
adj
- Having one's patience greatly taxed; greatly annoyed; made furious.e.g.“look exasperated”
- Made worse or more intense.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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