Definition of EXASPERATE

exasperate

Meanings

Verb

  • exasperate or irritate
  • make furious
  • make worse
  • To tax the patience of; irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.

Adj

  • Exasperated.
  • exasperated; embittered.

Origin / 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.

Synonyms

aggravate, annoy, antagonize, bedevil, boil someone's piss, bother, botherate, bug, burn up, chap someone's hide, cheese off, devil, disgruntle, exacerbate, exasperate, frustrate, get, get on someone's nerves, get on someone's tits, get on someone's wick, get someone's back up, get someone's dander up, get someone's goat, get someone's Irish up, get someone's nanny, get someone's nanny-goat, get under one's goat, get up, give someone the shits, grate, grind one's gears, grotch, hack off, harsh one's mellow, hassle, Idioms:, incense, infuriate, irk, irritate, jazz, molest, mommick, nark, pee off, peeve, persecute, pique, piss off, provoke, put someone's back up, raise someone's hackles, rankle, rile, rile up, roil, rub someone the wrong way, rub up the wrong way, ruffle, ruffle someone's feathers, sting, storm, tee off, test someone's patience, tick off, torque off, trouble, try one's patience, vex, wind up, worsen

Antonyms

better

Scrabble Score: 19

exasperate is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
exasperate is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
exasperate is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 20

exasperate is a valid Words With Friends word