Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Language: Latin
Origin: , past participle of exacerbare, from acerbus 'bitter'

exacerbate

 verb
     
ex‧a‧cer‧bate [transitive]
to make a bad situation worse:
The recession has exacerbated this problem.
I don't want to exacerbate the situation.
—exacerbation noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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