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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “exacerbate”

“exacerbate” is pronounced /ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/ (ig-ZA-suh-bayt) in American English and /ɛɡzasəbeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “zæ”.
The sound

Say “exacerbate” in 4 beats

Say it like this

exacerbate

/ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/

The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ɛɡzasəbeɪt/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.

4 beats
  1. ɪɡɪɡ
  2. zæzæstress
  3. sɚsɚ
  4. beɪtbeɪt
IPA (American)
/ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/
IPA (British)
/ɛɡzasəbeɪt/
Respelling
ig-ZA-suh-bayt
Syllables
4 — ɪɡ-ZÆ-sɚ-beɪt
Stress
Stress the second syllable: ɪɡ-ZÆ-sɚ-beɪt. “zæ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
verb
Difficulty
Legend — spelling and sound part company here
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/

British

/ɛɡzasəbeɪt/

No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.

Meaning

What “exacerbate” means

  1. verb

    make worse

    “This drug aggravates the pain”

  2. verb

    exasperate or irritate

Say it in a sentence

“Scratching will only exacerbate the rash on your arm.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

9 sounds, in the order you say them
ɪshort iɡgzzæshort assɚschwabbeɪlong att

Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.

Questions

“exacerbate”, answered

How do you pronounce “exacerbate”?

“exacerbate” is pronounced /ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/ (ig-ZA-suh-bayt) in American English and /ɛɡzasəbeɪt/ in British English — 4 syllables, stressed on “zæ”. Build it as ɪɡ-ZÆ-sɚ-beɪt, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “exacerbate” have?

4: ɪɡ · zæ · sɚ · beɪt. The beat lands on the second, “zæ”.

Is “exacerbate” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ɪɡˈzæsɚˌbeɪt/ (ig-ZA-suh-bayt); British English says /ɛɡzasəbeɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “exacerbate” mean?

As a verb: make worse For example: “This drug aggravates the pain” It carries 1 other sense as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “exacerbate”?

Stress the second syllable: ɪɡ-ZÆ-sɚ-beɪt. “zæ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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