| Main Entry: | exacerbate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | infuriate; make worse |
Synonyms: |
add insult to injury, aggravate, annoy, egg on, embitter, enrage, envenom, exasperate, excite, fan the flames, feed the fire, go from bad to worse, heat up, heighten, hit on, increase, inflame, intensify, irritate, madden, provoke, push one's button, rattle one's cage, rub salt in a wound, vex, worsen |
| Notes: | to aggravate is to make something worse, while to exacerbate is to increase something's bitterness or harshness |
Antonyms: |
aid, calm, comfort, help, soothe |
| Main Entry: | excite |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | inspire; upset |
Synonyms: |
accelerate, agitate, amaze, anger, animate, annoy, arouse, astound, awaken, bother, chafe, delight, discompose, disturb, electrify, elicit, energize, evoke, feed the fire, fire, fluster, foment, galvanize, goad, incite, induce, inflame, infuriate, instigate, intensify, irritate, jar, jolt, kindle, madden, mock, move, offend, precipitate, provoke, quicken, rouse, start, stimulate, stir up, taunt, tease, thrill, titillate, touch off, vex, wake up, waken, warm, whet, work up, worry |
Antonyms: |
bore, calm, compose, deaden, lull, moderate, pacify, quiet, repress, tranquilize |
| Main Entry: | stir |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | incite, stimulate |
Synonyms: |
abet, actuate, add fuel to fire, adjy, affect, agitate, animate, arouse, awaken, bestir, challenge, craze, drive, electrify, energize, excite, feed the fire, foment, galvanize, impel, inflame, inspire, kindle, make waves, motivate, move, prompt, provoke, psych, quicken, raise, rally, rile, rouse, roust, rout, set, spark, spook, spur, stir embers, stir up, switch on, thrill, touch, trigger, urge, vitalize, wake, waken, whet, whip up, work up |
Antonyms: |
calm, discourage |