exasperating

adjective

ex·​as·​per·​at·​ing ig-ˈza-spə-ˌrā-tiŋ 

: causing strong feelings of irritation or annoyance

an exasperating delay

After the most frustrating, aggravating and exasperating two days of his career …

—Jack Curry

The following days brought light fluky winds and I made only 35 miles of progress in two days. It was very exasperating.

—Tom Peterson

exasperatingly adverb

an exasperatingly slow process

The heater warmed up slowly; its temperature was exasperatingly difficult to adjust.

—Consumer Reports

Synonyms of exasperating

• frustrating
• annoying
• irritating
• disturbing

Examples of exasperating in a Sentence

those exasperating details that come with almost any job

Recent Examples on the Web

But dropping the gloves can feel like an exasperating last act born of desperation and hopelessness - a door that slams behind you, leaves you in the dark and seldom reopens. —Aaron Davis, Sacbee.com, 2 Jan. 2026

The 49ers beat the Bears 42-38 Sunday night in one of the more spellbinding and exasperating games in recent NFL history. —Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 29 Dec. 2025

Shopping for a new car or truck can be exhausting and exasperating. —Morgan Korn, ABC News, 21 Dec. 2025

Thirty years after its debut, Everybody Loves Raymond remains one of television’s most beloved and hysterically exasperating portraits of family life. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 24 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1592, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for exasperating

• accelerating
• accentuating
• accommodating
• accumulating
• adjudicating
• administrating
• affiliating
• agglutinating
• alienating
• alleviating
• amalgamating
• ameliorating