exacerbate
verb🔊/ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪt/
🔊/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪt/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they exacerbate | 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪt/ 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪt/ |
| he / she / it exacerbates | 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪts/ 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪts/ |
| past simple exacerbated | 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪtɪd/ 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪtɪd/ |
| past participle exacerbated | 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪtɪd/ 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form exacerbating | 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪtɪŋ/ 🔊/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪtɪŋ/ |
- exacerbate something
to make something worse, especially a disease or problem 使恶化；使加剧；使加重 His aggressive reaction only exacerbated the situation. 他的挑衅行为只会使情况恶化。 The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。 🔊🔊
Oxford Collocations DictionaryExacerbate is used with these nouns as the object:- anxiety
- condition
- crisis
- …
Word Originmid 17th cent.: from Latin exacerbat- ‘made harsh’, from the verb exacerbare, from ex- (expressing inducement of a state) + acerbus ‘harsh, bitter’. The noun exacerbation (late Middle English) originally meant ‘provocation to anger’.