different between exasperate vs browbeat

English

Etymology

From Latin exasper?; ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asper? (“make rough”), from asper (“rough”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /???zæsp(?)?e?t/
• (Received Pronunciation, also) IPA^(key): /???z??sp??e?t/
• Rhymes: -æsp??e?t
• Hyphenation: ex?as?per?ate

Verb

exasperate (third-person singular simple present exasperates, present participle exasperating, simple past and past participle exasperated)

1. To tax the patience of, irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.
   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 3, scene 6:

     And this report

     Hath so exasperate [sic] the king that he

     Prepares for some attempt of war.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 3:

     The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, chapter 11:

     Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants; always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, exasperating the public.

   • 1987 January 5, "Woman of the Year: Corazon Aquino," Time:

     [S]he exasperates her security men by acting as if she were protected by some invisible shield.

   • 2007 June 4, "Loyal Mail," Times Online (UK) (retrieved 7 Oct 2010):

     News that Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is set to receive a bumper bonus will exasperate postal workers.

Translations

Adjective

exasperate (comparative more exasperate, superlative most exasperate)

1. (obsolete) exasperated; embittered.
   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act V, Scene 1,^[1]

     Thersites. Do I curse thee?

     Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.

     Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman & Hall, 1857, Book 4, p. 177,^[2]

     Like swallows which the exasperate dying year

     Sets spinning […]

Related terms

See also

• exacerbate

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “exasperate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eksaspe?rate/, /e?zaspe?rate/

Verb

exasperate

1. adverbial present passive participle of exasperar

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.pe?ra?.te/, [?ks?äs?p???ä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek.sas.pe?ra.te/, [??z?sp?????t??]

Verb

exasper?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exasper?

English

Alternative forms

• brow-beat

Etymology

brow +? beat

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?b?a?.bi?t/

Verb

browbeat (third-person singular simple present browbeats, present participle browbeating, simple past browbeat, past participle browbeaten)

1. (transitive) To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.

   Though the teacher browbeat all the children, they still acted out during the lesson.

Synonyms

• (to bully in an intimidating way): bully, cow, domineer, intimidate

Related terms

• browbeater

Translations

References

• browbeat in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• browbeat in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.