Cause to be bitter or resentful.
1 Lady Laura had triumphed; but she had no desire to acerbate her husband by any unpalatable allusion to her victory.
2 The poor girl had not spirit sufficient to upbraid her friend; nor did it suit her now to acerbate an enemy.
3 They are often perturbed and acerbated , and sometimes diverted from their proper course by the winds of adverse comment.
4 And personally his feelings had been acerbated in that he had been called 'mate' by a man not half his age.
5 On the Monday morning John Ball said something respecting Margaret to his mother which acerbated that lady more than ever against her niece.
6 Lord Palmerston, too, was a typical example of a leader lulling, rather than arousing, assuaging rather than acerbating the minds of his followers.
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