exasperate
Meaning
to make someone extremely annoyed or frustrated.
(archaic) to make a situation, problem, or feeling worse.
Structure
Usage
his constant interruptions began to exasperate the lecturer.
she was exasperated by the endless bureaucracy and red tape.
the team's repeated failures served only to exasperate their manager.
Etymology
The word 'exasperate' originates from the Latin verb 'exasperare', which is a combination of the intensive prefix 'ex-' (meaning "thoroughly") and the adjective 'asper' (meaning "rough"). The literal sense was "to make thoroughly rough or harsh". This concrete meaning evolved metaphorically in Latin to describe the act of provoking someone to a state of roughness or harshness of temper. Entering English in the 16th century, it retained this figurative sense, specifically denoting the action of irritating someone to a high degree. The archaic sense of aggravating a situation is a direct semantic holdover from the original notion of making something worse or more severe.
Analysis
- ex: latin origin, a prefix meaning "out of, from, thoroughly". - asper: latin origin, from the root 'asper-' meaning "rough, harsh". - ate: latin origin, a suffix used to form verbs meaning "to make, cause to become".