exacerbate
C1/C2formal, academic, professional
Definition
Meaning
to make a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse
to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of a state; to aggravate or intensify a negative condition
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Used exclusively for worsening something that is already negative. Neutral/positive outcomes cannot be 'exacerbated'.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No major differences in meaning or usage. 'Exacerbate' is standard in both varieties.
Connotations
Slightly formal/academic in both. In American political/news discourse, it may be used more frequently.
Frequency
Some corpus data suggests marginally higher frequency in AmE, but the word is firmly established in both.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
SV(O) - The policy exacerbated poverty.SVOd - The speech exacerbated public fears.Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “No common idioms. The word itself is used literally.”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Used to describe actions that worsen market conditions, economic disparities, or operational problems.
Academic
Common in social sciences, medicine, and policy studies to describe factors that intensify problems.
Everyday
Less common, but used in discussion of serious news topics (e.g., 'The new law exacerbated the housing crisis').
Technical
Frequent in medical contexts (exacerbate symptoms/conditions) and environmental science (exacerbate climate impacts).
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The government's austerity measures served only to exacerbate social divisions.
- Please avoid foods that might exacerbate your condition, the doctor advised.
American English
- His inflammatory rhetoric ended up exacerbating tensions in the community.
- The new tax code is likely to exacerbate income inequality, analysts warn.
adverb
British English
- N/A (The adverb 'exacerbatingly' is extremely rare and non-standard).
American English
- N/A (The adverb 'exacerbatingly' is extremely rare and non-standard).
adjective
British English
- N/A (The adjective is 'exacerbating', rarely used attributively).
American English
- N/A (The adjective is 'exacerbating', rarely used attributively).
Examples
By CEFR Level
- N/A - Word is beyond A2 level.
- Stress can exacerbate health problems.
- Lack of rain exacerbated the drought.
- The sudden policy change exacerbated the existing economic instability.
- Her comments only served to exacerbate the disagreement between the two departments.
- Critics argue that the proposed legislation would inadvertently exacerbate the very disparities it seeks to address.
- The infection was exacerbated by the patient's compromised immune system.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think: EX-ACERB-ATE. 'Acerb' relates to 'acerbic' (sharp/bitter). To EX-ACERB-ATE is to bring OUT sharp bitterness – to make things worse.
Conceptual Metaphor
A PROBLEM IS A WOUND/INFLAMMATION (exacerbating irritates it, makes it swell).
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Do not confuse with обострять (which can be neutral, like 'sharpen a pencil'). Exacerbate is ONLY negative.
- Not a direct synonym for ухудшать in all contexts; it implies making an already bad situation specifically more severe or intense.
Common Mistakes
- Using it for positive intensification (INCORRECT: 'The praise exacerbated her happiness').
- Confusing with 'exasperate' (to irritate intensely).
Practice
Quiz
Which of the following sentences uses 'exacerbate' correctly?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
In modern usage, they are synonyms when meaning 'to make worse'. Purists once reserved 'aggravate' for 'to annoy', but this distinction has largely disappeared, especially in formal writing.
No. 'Exacerbate' is only used for negative situations, problems, or feelings. You intensify, increase, or heighten positive things.
The noun is 'exacerbation' (e.g., 'an exacerbation of symptoms').
It is more common in written, formal, academic, and professional contexts. In casual speech, people are more likely to say 'make worse' or 'aggravate'.