exacerba

Exacerba is a Latin term primarily encountered as a grammatical form rather than a standalone word in modern usage. It is the second-person singular present active imperative of the verb exacerbāre, which means to aggravate, intensify, or make something worse. In use it would appear in a command such as "Exacerba rem," meaning "Worsen the matter." The verb stems from ex- meaning "out, thoroughly" and acerbus meaning "bitter, harsh," reflecting a sense of making something harsher or more severe.

The English verb "exacerbate" is derived from the Latin infinitive "exacerbāre" and carries the same core meaning. The noun "exacerbation" refers to a worsening of a condition, especially in medicine, while "exacerbating" describes the act or process of making something worse. In contemporary usage, "exacerbate" is common in medical, political, and environmental contexts.

Modern references to "exacerba" as a standalone term are rare and it is not widely used as a proper noun. In Italian, a related form is "esacerbare," where the root is adapted with a different initial consonant cluster; the imperative form there would be "esacerba" with s rather than x. Latin training materials, dictionaries, and linguistic discussions may cite "exacerba" as an example of Latin imperative morphology.