Stephen Tonkin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> Odd feeling, to be determinedly arguing that I am
> wrong!

Even odder to be arguing, equally determinedly, that you're right!

I take issue with the quotation of a sentence from Beckett as evidence to support this use of exasperate (which seems to appear in quite a few online dictionaries):

'To increase the gravity or intensity of: “a scene... that exasperates his rose fever and makes him sneeze” (Samuel Beckett).'

Beckett, as we know, was a poet and playwright who was equally at home in French and English. He used language with precision and sensitivity for a certain effect and a certain end. I cannot believe that he wasn't perfectly aware of the difference between exasperate and exacerbate. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the particular work from which the quotation comes; the context might throw some further light on the question.

In the meantime, I hope I haven't exacerbated the situation, and exasperated the readers of this forum ...

Hermione
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