exacerbation

[Latin exacerbatio, from exacerbatus, pa. par. of exacerbo; Fr.exacerbation.] I. Ordinary Language: *1. The act of exacerbating, irritating, or exasperating; exasperation. "On the same exacerbation he brake out into that stout piece of eloquence." -Hammond: Works , iv. 541. 2. Increased severity or harshne . II. Med .: The height of a disease; a paroxysm; the periodical increase of remittent and continued fevers, when there is no actual ce ation of the fever. "The patient himself may strive, by little and little, to overcome the symptoms, in the exacerbation . " -Bacon : Nat. Hist ., § 61.