exasperate

English

Etymology

From Latin exasperō; ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asperō (“make rough”), from asper (“rough”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzæsp(ə)ɹeɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation, also) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzɑːspəɹeɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -æspəɹeɪt
• Hyphenation: ex‧as‧per‧ate

Verb

exasperate (third-person singular simple present exasperates, present participle exasperating, simple past and past participle exasperated)

1. (transitive) To tax the patience of; irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     And this report
     Hath so exasperate [sic] the king that he
     Prepares for some attempt of war.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 11, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1853, →OCLC:

     Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants; always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, exasperating the public.

   • 1987 January 5, “Woman of the Year: Corazon Aquino”, in Time:

     [S]he exasperates her security men by acting as if she were protected by some invisible shield.

   • 2007 June 4, “Loyal Mail”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 7 October 2010:

     News that Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is set to receive a bumper bonus will exasperate postal workers.

Translations

Adjective

exasperate (comparative more exasperate, superlative most exasperate)

1. (obsolete) exasperated; embittered.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Thersites. Do I curse thee?
     Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.
     Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Fourth Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, , published 1857, →OCLC, page 177:

     Like swallows which the exasperate dying year
     Sets spinning […]

Related terms

See also

• exacerbate

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “exasperate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eksaspeˈrate/, /eɡzaspeˈrate/

Verb

exasperate

1. adverbial present passive participle of exasperar

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.peˈraː.te/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.peˈra.te/,

Verb

exasperāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exasperō

Spanish

Verb

exasperate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of exasperar combined with te