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The Word of the Day for August 30, 2008 is:

exasperate • \ig-ZAS-puh-rayt\

• verb

1 : to excite the anger of : enrage

*2 : to cause irritation or annoyance to

Example Sentence:

Our former neighbors' habit of throwing loud parties that lasted late into the night thoroughly exasperated us.

Did you know?

"Exasperate" hangs with a rough crowd. It derives from "exasperatus," the past participle of the Latin verb "exasperare," which in turn was formed by combining "ex-" with "asper," meaning "rough." Another descendant of "asper" in English is "asperity," which can refer to the roughness of a surface or the roughness of someone's temper. Another relative, albeit a distant one, is the English word "spurn," meaning "to reject."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.