n. [ contraction ] An ex-wife or ex-husband; a former spouse; -- used usually with a possessive; as, she invited her ex to her second wedding; her ex; his ex; John's ex. [ informal ] [ PJC ]

n. The letter x. [ PJC ]

prep. (Finance) Without (some right); not including the right to have; as, a stock selling ex dividend (a stock for which the right to a dividend has expired the previous day); ex interest; ex rights. [ PJC ]

A prefix from the latin preposition, ex, akin to Gr. 'ex or 'ek signifying out of, out, proceeding from. Hence, in composition, it signifies out of, as, in exhale, exclude; off, from, or out, as in exscind; beyond, as, in excess, exceed, excel; and sometimes has a privative sense of without, as in exalbuminous, exsanguinous. In some words, it intensifies the meaning; in others, it has little affect on the signification. It becomes ef- before f, as in effuse. The form e- occurs instead of ex- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, as in ebullient, emanate, enormous, etc. In words from the French it often appears as es-, sometimes as s- or é-; as, escape, scape, élite. Ex-, prefixed to names implying office, station, condition, denotes that the person formerly held the office, or is out of the office or condition now; as, ex-president, ex-governor, ex-mayor, ex-wife, ex-convict. The Greek form 'ex becomes ex in English, as in exarch; 'ek becomes ec, as in eccentric. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Exacerbated p. pr. & vb. n. Exacerbating ] [ L. exacerbatus, p. p. of exacerbare; ex out (intens.) + acerbare. See Acerbate. ] To render more violent or bitter; to irritate; to exasperate; to imbitter, as passions or disease. Brougham. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Making worse.
Syn. -- aggravating, exasperating. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

pos>n. [ Cf. F. exacerbation. ] 1. The act of rendering more violent or bitter; the state of being exacerbated or intensified in violence or malignity; as, exacerbation of passion. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A periodical increase of violence in a disease, as in remittent or continuous fever; an increased energy of diseased and painful action. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. exacerbescens, -entis, p. pr. of exacerbescere, incho. of exacerbare. ] Increase of irritation or violence, particularly the increase of a fever or disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. exacervare to heap up exceedingly. See Ex-, and Acervate. ] The act of heaping up. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. ex out + acinus kernel. ] To remove the kernel form. [ 1913 Webster ]