This week’s theme
Verbs

This week’s words
devolve
edify
parlay
espouse
acerbate

This week's comments
AWADmail 670

Next week's theme
Terms borrowed from French

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(AS-uhr-bayt)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To irritate or to aggravate.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin acerbus (bitter). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ak- (sharp), which is also the source of acrid, vinegar, acid, acute, edge, hammer, heaven, eager, oxygen, mediocre, paragon, acuity, and acidic. Earliest documented use: 1657.

USAGE:

“The status quo will clearly acerbate the intolerable conditions under which the average reserve resident survives.”
Don Weisbeck; Politically speaking; Weekend Regional (Brooks, Canada); Jan 31, 2013.

See more usage examples of acerbate in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: