Literary notes about Exacerbate (AI summary)
In literature, "exacerbate" is frequently employed to depict scenarios where existing tensions, conflicts, or feelings are deepened or intensified. Authors use it to signal that a particular action or intervention, no matter how slight, can make a negative situation worse, whether by heightening political strife [1, 2], fueling personal anguish [3, 4], or exacerbating historical grievances and intergroup conflicts [5, 6]. This deliberate choice of language not only reflects the cautionary tone of escalating circumstances but also emphasizes the potential for actions to contribute to an environment where problems intensify, creating a ripple effect that complicates the narrative's emotional and thematic landscape [7, 8].
- Closing a country to competition will only exacerbate the very conditions which necessitate its opening up.
— from Financial Crime and Corruption by Samuel Vaknin - We need to consider whether the application of force will allow us to influence and control an adversary's will or merely exacerbate a bad situation.
— from Shock and Awe — Achieving Rapid Dominance by Harlan Ullman - It’s not for you, and you do but exacerbate the frightful pain there’s been in feeling it with them.
— from This Freedom by A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth) Hutchinson - An officious intrusion into the sacred recess of such indescribable sorrows, only serves to exacerbate, rather than mitigate the wounded spirit.
— from A Memorial of Mrs. Margaret Breckinridge by John Breckinridge - Narval realized that he was being goaded by his INOR allies to exacerbate the confrontation between the Regions.
— from The Universe — or Nothing by Meyer Moldeven - Thus they helped to exacerbate the relations of England and Germany and to hasten the advent of the Great War.
— from The Problem of China by Bertrand Russell - Local treatment by heat will help oftener, but may exacerbate it.
— from Psychotherapy Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly, in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of Disease by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh - They put in the time public speaking; so wear out their energy, develop points of difference and 94 exacerbate internal ill-feeling.
— from The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 25 by Robert Louis Stevenson
