Definition

To exacerbate means to make something worse or more severe, especially a problem or situation.

Pronunciation

US English

UK English


See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage

Excerpts from News Articles

The Rev. Lionel Murphy, pastor of Tchoupitoulas Chapel in St. John, said the storm left devastating damage to his church along with homes and other buildings in the parish, exacerbating the emotional and physical toll that air pollution and health disparities have placed on communities.

Logo 2021-09-06 CNN News

But gun-related violence in Latin America and the Caribbean is also exacerbated by weapons that come from the US. About 200,000 firearms from America cross Mexico’s border every year, according to a February 2021 US government accountability office report, citing the Mexican government.

Logo 2021-11-26 CNN News

Before exercising in cold weather, make sure it's safe for you to do so, says Okoroha. People with medical conditions such as asthma, heart disease or Raynaud's disease, which can cause body parts to feel numb or cold, should check with their doctor first as these conditions may be exacerbated by the cold.

Logo 2023-01-19 NPR

The joint U.S. and European statement said the countries "strongly oppose these unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution."

Logo 2023-02-14 NPR

IPT receipts from these higher premiums provides a “windfall to government” that exacerbates the cost impact to consumers, which could be eased, Biba argued.

Logo 2023-03-09 The Independent

Russia has invested a lot in its destabilisation efforts in Moldova. While it may seem that there has not been a lot of return on this investment, this would be the wrong conclusion to draw. Moscow has found it relatively easy to capitalise on the frustrations felt by many ordinary Moldovans by peddling a narrative that diverts blame and exacerbates fear and uncertainty.

Logo 2023-03-13 The Conversation

The Great Recession began with the freezing of the interbank market, as overextended retail banks (following years of lax oversight of their property lending) became doubtful about each other’s solvency. This was exacerbated by the decision of the Fed in September 2008 not to rescue or merge Lehman Brothers, but instead let it go bankrupt. The resulting, dramatic collapse in US retail bank lending (the grey line in Figure 2) ensured that the US housing bubble burst, causing economic shockwaves across the world.

Logo 2023-03-14 The Conversation

Before the ruling, 19 states already restricted telehealth abortion care, limiting access to medication abortion. Nearly half of US adults were unsure whether medication abortion was currently legal in their state as of late-January, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Experts say that confusion will only be exacerbated .

Logo 2023-03-15 CNN News

"Mental illness should not be your ticket to death," said Otieno's mother, Caroline Ouko, noting that mental health is on the decline across the country, exacerbated by the pandemic. "My son was treated like a dog — worse than a dog — I saw it with my own eyes on the video. He was treated inhumanely, and it was traumatic and it was systematic."

Logo 2023-03-16 NPR

As the world reopened, shares imploded, demand returned to trendline, and earnings growth stalled. The sector experienced its own recession, exacerbated by sharply rising interest rates that penalize earnings expected years in the future. Compared with service sectors — airlines, hotels, restaurants and discretionary high-end spending — where demand has been on fire, technology has been in a slump for a year.

Logo 2023-03-20 CNBC

“The current cost-of-living crisis is exacerbating the problem. Struggling to make ends meet as living costs soar, many workers are unable to prioritise pension saving, which risks storing up a future crisis of millions unable to afford even the basics in retirement.”

Logo 2023-03-21 The Independent

So the verdict? It’s probably better to avoid crossing your legs if you can. Though that said, many of the risk factors associated with crossing your legs are likely exacerbated by other underlying issues such as sedentary lifestyles and obesity. So with this in mind, the main advice is to not sit still in the same position for too long and to keep regularly active.

Logo 2023-03-23 The Conversation

Marie, an Australian torture and trauma counsellor, told me “you can’t begin to help people work through trauma when it’s exacerbated by being in Nauru”. She says Nauru has never had the capacity or the infrastructure to effectively support asylum seekers and refugees.

Logo 2023-03-24 The Conversation

The exclusion of developing-country researchers reflects the general failure within academia to regard local contexts. As recent analysis of academic racism has shown, research institutions and processes can reflect and exacerbate bias, prejudice, and discrimination. Their lack of diversity constrains research quality and impact, and impedes efforts to eradicate poverty, improve living standards, and promote prosperity for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Logo 2023-03-27 CGTN

Mass incarceration in the United States is inherently racialized, with a long history of disproportionately affecting and targeting Black and Hispanic Americans. This racialization of the criminal justice system is a shackle for minority groups that exacerbates social inequality in the country. The incarceration rate in the U.

Logo 2023-03-28 CGTN

It's not the recession story itself, which is old by now. It's fear that tighter credit conditions caused by the banking crisis will exacerbate and prolong a recession and, secondarily, a lingering fear that a Fed "pause" is unlikely to provide much relief for the markets. Blackrock, for example, believes that stubbornly high inflation is going to prevent the Fed from cutting rates later this year, as much of the market widely believes.

Logo 2023-03-28 CNBC

Being excluded from paying for things with cash exacerbates the problems that many older people are already facing Caroline Abrahams, Age UK

Logo 2023-03-29 The Independent

The shadow of the pandemic has not yet gone and the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two "breadbaskets of the world," has once again caused severe volatility in global markets. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two of the world's leading exporters of agricultural products, has exacerbated worldwide shortages, pushed up prices and threatened global food security.

Logo 2023-03-29 CGTN

In the summits, the U.S. forced its allies to take sides over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The U.S. called for hitting Russia hard and imposed strict sanctions. The sanctions exacerbated Europe's energy crisis.

Logo 2023-03-30 CGTN

China's export to Côte d'Ivoire rising at an annualized rate of 15.2 percent for the specified period – in the coming years, the next phase of the China-Côte d'Ivoire economic and trade cooperation, which promises a deepened bilateral relation, is not only expected to inject new impetus in an already flourishing China-Africa cooperation but also crucial to solving daunting economic challenges exacerbated by recent occurrences, notably COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Logo 2023-03-30 CGTN

Natural gas is dependent on just-in-time delivery, exacerbating the island’s vulnerability to a blockade that many military experts now consider to be China’s most probable method to subdue Taiwan. Whereas coal and nuclear enable about 18 months of on-site storage, Taiwan can hold just two weeks’ worth of natural gas without a huge commitment to build more infrastructure. Reducing coal reflects important environmental concerns, but the elimination of nuclear power from Taiwan’s mix is a dangerous misstep.

Logo 2023-03-30 The Economist

Remaining in that heightened state is no good since high levels of cortisol can exacerbate health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic gastrointestinal problems, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Stress can also cause or contribute to anxiety, irritability, poor sleep, substance abuse, chronic distrust or worry, and more.

Logo 2023-03-31 CNN News

The researcher deemed the phenomenon as "occupational segregation." Furthermore, inflation has made women's shopping carts become more expensive at a faster rate — exacerbating the problem of the "pink tax," or the cost premium on goods and services market toward women compared to similar products for men.

Logo 2023-03-31 CNBC

Fears about Zaporizhzhia have all but exacerbated existing concerns around our lack of preparedness for any nuclear-related incident, laying bare anxieties not necessarily around war-related incidents but about climate change and Europe's old reactors, for instance.

Logo 2023-03-31 EURO News

One major impediment was the Army Corps’ cost-benefit analysis of the project, which calculated that the construction cost would outweigh the value of protecting a low-income rural area — a formula widely criticized for exacerbating racial and economic inequity.

Logo 2023-04-01 The Washington Post

It comes at a time when Finland is expected to tip into recession this year. According to the Bank of Finland Bulletin, Finland faces the kind of problems seen across the world: an energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine and a rise in the cost of living.

Logo 2023-04-02 CNN News

Low wages and high rents make Lisbon the world’s third-least viable city to live in, according to a study by insurance brokers CIA Landlords. Portugal’s current 8.2% inflation rate has exacerbated the problem.

Logo 2023-04-02 CNN News

The upshot was that Henry, and in turn, we – his loved ones – were often in the dark, struggling to piece together fragments of secondhand information. At an already stressful time, lack of access only exacerbated the distress.

Logo 2023-04-03 The Guardian

Looking ahead, analysts expect the weakness in oil product cracks to be further exacerbated in the near term, given the strength in crude futures.

Logo 2023-04-03 Channel NewsAsia

What people can do is track their trigger and exacerbating factors — of which sleep seems to be one of many — to get optimal control over their asthma, Mora said.

Logo 2023-04-03 CNN News

“With a development of this size and economic impact, it was unavoidable that it would have a profound effect on the local housing market and exacerbate existing affordability challenges for many low-income residents of Woodlawn and South Shore,” said William Sites, a professor in the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the nearby University of Chicago. “The evidence was pretty clear that even before the groundbreaking, early on in the predevelopment process, housing values were rising quite dramatically in both Woodlawn and South Shore.”

Logo 2023-04-03 The Washington Post

Thailand’s air pollution is a problem in the dry season from November to March each year and is further exacerbated by seasonal burning from farmers clearing their sugarcane and rice fields. But the smog has been particularly bad this year.

Logo 2023-04-03 The Independent

In March, scientists found that global sea surface temperatures were at a record high. El Niño is likely to exacerbate the situation.

Logo 2023-04-03 EURO News

Trump's lawyers opposed videography, photography and radio coverage of the arraignment, where a defendant is brought to court to hear charges and have a chance to enter a plea, saying it would " exacerbate an already almost circus-like atmosphere around this case", detracting from dignity and decorum.

Logo 2023-04-03 Reuters

Local people are convinced that erosion is exacerbated by the dredging of sand relatively close to the coast, for which the crown estate – which owns most of the seabed around the UK – receives millions in licensing. “What happens when you dig a hole in wet sand?” asks Lorna Bevan, the co-owner of local pubs and shops and founder of the Save Hemsby’s Coastline charity. “It fills up again with sand. That sand has to come from somewhere.”

Logo 2023-04-03 The Guardian