Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EXACERBATE
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Even if you hate zombie movies, you might enjoy this snippet from Shaun of the Dead, in which Shaun reveals his endearing unfamiliarity with the word exacerbate:
Liz: With Ed here, it's no wonder I always bring my flatmates out, and that only exacerbates things.
Shaun: What do you mean?
Liz: You guys hardly get [along], do you?
Shaun: No, what does "exacerbate" mean?
Liz: It means, um, to make things worse.
Yup, to exacerbate things is to make them worse, and it's a zombie movie, so things definitely get worse for Shaun and Liz.
Now, if Liz hadn't said "exacerbate"--if she had said "that only makes matters worse," or "that only fans the flames"--then Shaun would have understood, but then he wouldn't have revealed his childlike vulnerability by asking her to define a word that appears frequently in print.
And I have a theory about why the word exacerbate is so frequently used: it could be because we can swap it so easily for dusty old phrases like "make matters worse," "fan the flames," "add insult to injury," and "rub salt in a wound."
Similarly, see if you can replace each phrase below with a nice, neat verb:
1. Replace "sit on the fence" with equi___ate.
2. Replace "beat around the bush" with circum_____ate.
3. Replace "cross that bridge if and when we come to it" with t__le.
Getting back to exacerbate, you can almost hear "acid" sizzling in the middle: exacerbate literally means "to make thoroughly bitter," and it shares a root with acid as well as our word acerb__, meaning "sour, sharp, bitter, and harsh."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"EXACERBATE"
With Latin roots that mean "to make thoroughly harsh or bitter," the word "exacerbate" means to make something worse, to irritate something, to aggravate something, to make something that's already painful even more painful.
In other words, to exacerbate something is to make it even worse than it already was.
Pronunciation:
eck SASS er bate
(Similar pronunciations are also acceptable: "eck ZASS er bate" and "ig ZASS er bate.")
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "the snub exacerbated her anger," "the new demands exacerbated the employee's stress."
Other common forms:
exacerbated, exacerbating, exacerbation
How to use it:
When you need extra emphasis--that is, when you need a word that sounds harsh, like a knife slashing around, pick the word "exacerbate" instead of "worsen."
It's a formal word, but it's common; if your listeners don't know it, they'll learn it quickly from the context.
Talk about things, people, actions, statements, and events that exacerbate things.
Things that often get exacerbated include fears, stress, worries, hostility, hatred, divisions, pains, injuries, errors, problems, crises, imbalances and disparities, and basically any other situation or circumstance that was already bad before something came along to exacerbate it.
examples:
If her anger with you is out of proportion with your mistakes, telling her so is a reliable way to exacerbate it.
"Learn to be open about pain and swelling, too. Silence, secrecy and shame only exacerbate the problem."
— Hannah Dines, The Guardian, 26 March 2019
has this page helped you understand "exacerbate"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "exacerbate" without saying "aggravate" or "make it worse."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(A certain problem exists), a/an (issue, problem, difficulty, pain, discomfort, etc.) exacerbated by _____."
Example: "Some children of migrant farmworkers struggle to learn English, an issue exacerbated by constant moves from school to school."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Quintessential TV Quotes!
Each day, match the given vocabulary word to the quote that best illustrates it.
From the previous issue:
From The Simpsons, which quote below illustrates someone being reverent?
Quote A:
Homer: I've come around on hipsters. It takes a lot of guts to all wear the same hat.
Quote B:
Homer: You're my personal savior.
Ned: Thank you, but I don't approve...
Homer: Hail Flanders, mightier than Jesus.
Quote C:
Homer: We show girls love on Valentine's Day, and they let us blow things up on the Fourth of July. I just pray they never fall on the same day.
Answer: In quote B, Homer treats Ned with reverence.
Try this one today:
From Gilmore Girls, which quote below illustrates someone being tawdry?
Quote A:
Lorelai: And keep in mind that getting up on a table and performing a song of any kind will haunt you for the rest of your life. Trust me. Been there, done that.
Rory: I wasn't planning on doing that.
Lorelai: Hun, those things are never planned.
Quote B:
Rory: If I had known sports were so much about eating, I would’ve come to a lot more of these.
Lane: I know. There’s something deeply satisfying about watching other people exercise while eating junk food.
Quote C:
Lorelai: I'm just afraid if we don't answer everything accurately, the Harvard police will come and hit you with an atlas and say something mean in Latin.
review today's word:
1. One opposite of EXACERBATE is
A. ALLEVIATE.
B. JETTISON.
C. MARSHAL.
2. _____ can exacerbate it.
A. Faking a positive attitude
B. Calling attention to blushing
C. Opening the oven while a cake is baking
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Even if you hate zombie movies, you might enjoy this snippet from Shaun of the Dead, in which Shaun reveals his endearing unfamiliarity with the word exacerbate:
"EXACERBATE" With Latin roots that mean "to make thoroughly harsh or bitter," the word "exacerbate" means to make something worse, to irritate something, to aggravate something, to make something that's already painful even more painful.
If her anger with you is out of proportion with your mistakes, telling her so is a reliable way to exacerbate it.
Explain the meaning of "exacerbate" without saying "aggravate" or "make it worse."
Fill in the blanks: "(A certain problem exists), a/an (issue, problem, difficulty, pain, discomfort, etc.) exacerbated by _____."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. One opposite of EXACERBATE is
|