Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

exasperate

/ɪɡˈzæsp(ə)ɹeɪt/ verb

Latin root: exasperātus First recorded: 1534 Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about exasperate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To tax the patience of; irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.

adjective

Exasperated.
Exasperated; embittered.

verb

To overaspirate the letter h, or to aspirate it whenever it begins a word, once a common form of hypercorrection.

Origin

First attested in 1534; borrowed from Latin exasperātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin exasperō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asperō (“to make rough”), from asper (“rough”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word