Stephen Tonkin Wrote:
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> SOED

>
> Exasperate :
> 2. To make more fierce or violent 1611.
> b. To make, or represent as, worse - 1750.
> 3. To embitter, intensify 1548.
>
> A rather apte exemplar is given:
> 3. A temper exasperated by disease PRESCOTT.

>(surely you won't argue with the SOED! ):

Maybe the CALD will, though!

exasperate
verb [T]
to make someone very annoyed, usually when they can do nothing to solve a problem

exasperated Show phonetics
adjective
annoyed:
He's becoming increasingly exasperated with the situation.

exasperatedly
adverb

exasperating
adjective
extremely annoying:
It's so exasperating when he won't listen to a word that I say.

exasperatingly
adverb

exasperation
noun
annoyance:
There is growing exasperation within the government at the failure of these policies to reduce unemployment.
After ten hours of fruitless negotiations, he stormed out of the meeting in exasperation.

And exacerbate:

exacerbate
verb [T]
to make something which is already bad worse:
This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.

[http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=26692&dict=CALD]


Irritatingly, I don't have access to the SOED. Are the dates quoted those of the first recorded use of "exasperate" in that sense? In that case, the explanation might simply be that the meaning has changed over the centuries ... Whatever the SOED says, I myself would still shrink from saying "exasperate a situation", because, whatever anyone says, it sounds completely wrong. However, I conced that usage might be different in other parts of the English-speaking world; and one does have to bear in mind, anyway, that language is in a continual state of change ...

But, AFAIAC, at any rate, you were right first time!

Hermione
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