exacerbate

When tempers are already high, loud shouting can exacerbate an argument and make people feel even more angry and upset. Instead of helping, yelling can only make the fight more bitter and severe, so it is better to speak calmly when trouble starts.

My headache was already bad, but the constant drilling from next door began to exacerbate the pain. The dull ache became a severe, sharp pounding in my head, making the whole situation feel much more bitter and violent than it had been just moments before.

The couple's argument started small, just a disagreement about dinner plans. But when he brought up her mother, it began to exacerbate the fight. Her voice grew louder, more bitter. What could have ended quietly instead turned into their worst fight in months.

When my little brother lost his sock, he started to scream. Instead of helping, I decided to eat his ice cream. This seemed to exacerbate his bad mood, making it much more violent and severe—now he was crying AND chasing me with a banana.

My badger’s mood was already quite severe after I put him in the tiny top hat. Trying to teach him a tap dance routine now would only exacerbate the problem, likely making his quiet, bitter growling far more violent and bitey.

The ongoing conflict between the two rival gangs only served to exacerbate tensions in the neighborhood. The recent increase in violent incidents has only made the situation worse, leaving residents feeling unsafe and scared.

As the relentless drought parched the land, it also exacerbated the tensions within the beleaguered community. The lack of water strained relationships, turning minor disagreements into bitter feuds. The once-peaceful village was now a tinderbox, each spark of conflict threatening to ignite a wildfire of resentment and violence.

The shadows in the old, decrepit house seemed to exacerbate the feeling of dread that hung heavy in the air. Each creak of the floorboards echoed like a sinister whisper, sending shivers down her spine. As she cautiously made her way through the dimly lit hallway, the sense of foreboding only grew stronger. Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the silence, causing her heart to race with terror. The darkness seemed to close in around her, exacerbating her fear until she could barely breathe. It was clear that whatever lurked in the shadows was determined to make her suffering even more unbearable.

The relentless rain pounded against the decaying roof, exacerbating the cracks that snaked across its surface. Inside, the stench of mildew hung heavy in the air, choking her lungs and stirring her anxiety. The once-beautiful wallpaper peeled away from the crumbling walls, revealing the dark stains that lay beneath. Her mind raced, spiraling into a vortex of despair as the storm outside mirrored the chaos within.

The dark wizard's curse only served to exacerbate the already dire situation. The once peaceful village was now plagued with constant storms, the crops withering in the unrelenting downpours. The villagers prayed for relief, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. The wizard's malicious magic seemed to grow stronger with each passing day, making the suffering of the villagers even more unbearable. As the winds howled and the lightning cracked overhead, they knew that they must find a way to break the curse before it escalated to a point of no return.

Loud arguments in the hallway tend to exacerbate tensions between neighbors who are already upset. When one person shouts, it can make the anger more severe, often leading to even more bitter feelings and making peace much harder to reach for everyone involved.

His sharp criticism during the already tense meeting was a poor choice. Instead of motivating the team, his words seemed only to exacerbate their frustration, making the existing conflict more severe and leaving everyone feeling bitter about the project's direction.

The argument had already spiraled out of control when Maria brought up his mother. She knew it would exacerbate the situation, turning his frustration into pure rage, but the words escaped before she could stop them. Now he wasn't just angry. He was furious, and there was no taking it back.

When Grandma tried to mediate the argument between my twin brothers over who got the last piece of pie, she somehow managed to exacerbate the situation; suddenly, forks became swords, crumbs became confetti, and even the cat looked nervous as chaos became more violent, bitter, and severe than ever before.

The cat’s initial fury over the surprise bath was considerable. My attempt to soothe him by singing opera, however, seemed only to exacerbate his violent protest, which now involved him scaling my face like a tiny, clawed mountaineer with a grudge against tenors.

Tension had already begun to simmer in the cramped apartment, but her harsh words served only to exacerbate the argument, making it more bitter and severe. What could have resolved with a conversation now escalated into raised voices and slammed doors.

His callous and flippant remark did not placate her. Instead, it served only to exacerbate the existing acrimony, turning their fraught disagreement into a venomous confrontation that now felt truly irreparable.

The argument had already grown heated when Marcus brought up her mother's gambling debts. That comment seemed to exacerbate everything, transforming their disagreement into something vicious and unforgiving. Within minutes, they were hurling insults that felt deliberately designed to inflict maximum pain, each word more caustic than the last.

Jenny believed a sprinkle of hot sauce would enliven her already tumultuous chili, unaware it would exacerbate the infernal spiciness to a state of Dantean agony; her dinner guests, previously stoic, soon engaged in dramatic interpretive dances, desperately fanning their mouths and pleading for dairy-based salvation.

The tiny leak was a mere bagatelle. However, my “ingenious” solution involving chewing gum and a vociferous lecture on structural integrity managed only to exacerbate the problem, transforming my kitchen into an impromptu, and rather lamentable, water feature.