exasperate

Exasperate is a verb meaning to irritate intensely or to cause someone to feel strong frustration or anger, especially through repeated provocation or stubborn behavior. It is transitive: you exasperate someone; the object can be a person, a situation, or a problem. The related noun is exasperation, and the corresponding adjective forms are exasperated and exasperating.

Etymology: from Latin exasperare, combining ex- “thoroughly” with asper “rough,” the term entered English in the late 16th century and broadened to describe mounting irritation rather than physical roughness alone.

Usage: Exasperate conveys a stronger reaction than irritate or annoy and is typically used for ongoing provocation rather than a single act. It can describe emotional or moral irritation, and is common in formal or literary contexts, though it also appears in everyday speech in some dialects. It is usually followed by a direct object: exasperate someone with something, or exasperate a situation or person through persistent behavior.

Examples: The constant delays exasperate travelers. Her refusal to listen exasperated him. The manager was exasperated by the team’s excuses. The sentence pattern is typically subject + exasperate + object, with variations such as exasperated by or at something.

Notes: Exasperate is distinct from exacerbate, which means to worsen a problem or situation rather than to provoke irritation in a person. Common synonyms include irritate, annoy, vex, and infuriate; antonyms include soothe, calm, and pacify. The noun exasperation denotes the state of being exasperated.