To render more violent or bitter; to irritate; to exasperate; to imbitter, as passions or disease
If something exacerbates a problem or bad situation, it makes it worse. Longstanding poverty has been exacerbated by racial divisions. = aggravate + exacerbation ex·ac·er·ba·tion the exacerbation of global problems. to make a bad situation worse (past participle of exacerbare, from acerbus )