exacerbate = "exaggerate"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Looks like those wonderful guys and gals at Wackipedia think these words are synonymous. (Or do I mean "unanimous"?  It's "just semantics"!).

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Chagnon:

  "In 2000, journalist Patrick Tierney accused Chagnon and his colleague Neel, among other things, of exacerbating a measles epidemic among the Yanomamo people in his book Darkness in El Dorado. Groups of historians, epidemiologists, anthropologists, and filmmakers who had direct knowledge of the events investigated Tierney's claims. These groups ultimately rejected the worst allegations concerning the measles epidemic."

  JL




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