Hacene's "a conflict that be render worse for different reasons", even if rendered into proper, intelligible English, is wrong, and the two examples found in the .pdf file cited

http://www.rand.org/publications/CF/CF130/CF130ch10.pdf

do *not* support the use of "excerbated" as an adjective --both of those instances are of "excerbated" as the past tense of the transitive verb, "to exacerbate".

"The exacerbated conflicts", though it may *look* like it is saying something, is in actuality a very, very awkward and rather unintelligble construction, in English.

A conflict can be "exacerbated" [verb, again] by any number of things, but that does not make it an "exacerbated conflict".

As far as I know, there can be, in English, no proper use of "exacerbated" as an adjective.

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Note added at 18 hrs 2 mins (2004-03-13 16:42:36 GMT)
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As I said in my response to Steven\'s answer, we need to find a more fitting English word here for the French adjective \"exacerbes\" :
\"Exaggerated\" or, \"prolonged\" or, perhaps, \"extensive\" all work better, but it is mpossible to say without more context.

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Note added at 22 hrs 51 mins (2004-03-13 21:31:35 GMT)
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Re sktrans\' examples of \"exacerbated\" as an adjetive :

1] \"large-scale environmental degradation, exacerbated by rapid population growth, threatens ...\"

used as a verb, obviously.

2] ... conceded that the African nation has seen ?more or less exacerbated conflicts?

agreed, an adjective.

however, I note that this source

www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Igpress/2000-12/wivorycoas... -

is quoting an ambassador from the Ivory Coast (Cote d\'Ivoire)

\"The new ambassador, Louis Esmel, conceded that the African nation has seen \'more or less exacerbated conflicts\' in recent months\"

Clearly a non-standard English speaker, as the quotes around the offending phrase in the English language website attest.

3] in recent months ... a political crisis, which was exacerbated by the fact that military leaders ...

verb, obviously.

4] ... sophisticated, socially, to manipulate many exacerbated conflicts.

Adjective, again referring to \"conflicts\" --perhaps this phrase is some sort of brainworm?

I cannot get this url to open, but will accept the fact of its existence :

www.bepress.com/context/gruterclassics/article/1020/type/na...
ontent

Academic writing is *notoriously* faulty, however.


5] ... determination, statehood and national dignity, and exacerbated conflicts within the countries of the region, delaying ...

Again, \"exercabated conflicts\".

Again, from a url I can\'t get to open.

www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/91assembly_on_gulf.p...

\"WCC\" is \"World Council of Churches\", but even http://www.wcc-coe.org/ doesn\'t open a page.

Again, the possibility of a speaker/writer of non-standard English.

6] the transportation network in some locations and exacerbated conflicts between the traveling public and freight carriers ...

There\'s that \"c\" word, again.

From the [U.S.] Federal Highway Administration :

www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publications/faf.html

Well, the U.S. Gubbermint never makes an error, so I\'ll have to give you this one.

Let\'s see, a google search on \"exacerbated conflicts\" gets 322 hits --which, of course, includes all the ones which use the \"e\" word as a verb.

As it happens, the Oxford English Dictionary *does* recognize \"exacerbated\" as an adjective :

\"...Hence e\'xacerbated ppl. a.\"

And offers *5* [five] instances of use, the latest one from 1874, all from quite obscure sources, two of which use quotation marks around this unusual usage (and none of which use it to modify \"conflict\") :

1804 Miniature No. I. (1806) I. 6 The ponderous dignity of the Rambler would, with \'exacerbated\' severity, lament the sad degeneracy of the present day, etc.

(1804) Miniature No. I. (1806) I. 6 \"The ponderous dignity of the Rambler would, with \'exacerbated\' severity, lament the sad degeneracy of the present day, etc. \"

(1853) Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxvi. (1856) 326 \"The disease had come back with..exacerbated virulence. \"

(1857) G. Gilfillan in Waller &. Denham\'s Poems 208 \"Butler, then a disappointed and exacerbated man, was malignant enough to lampoon him for lunacy.\"

1874) Morley Compromise (1886) 53 \"Exacerbated declamation in favor of ancient dogma against modern science.\"


So, O.K., sk, you *can* use exacerbate as an adjective.

Shucks, use it on a website and it will show up in a google search, thus justifying itself.

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Note added at 1 day 20 hrs 13 mins (2004-03-14 18:53:44 GMT) Post-grading
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Note to Hacene:

I don\'t know about \"the entire community\'s expert opinion\".

All I know is that there were five [5] answers proposed to Arminah\'s question, two of which --both offered by **non-English** native speakers-- favored \"exacerbated conflicts\" ; and two of which, suggested by native English speakers, favored \"intensified conflicts\" or \"exaggerated conflicts\".

My own response to those latter two was to agree with them as possible translations (pending the appearance of more context, which we still don\'t have) and the answer which I proposed was, effectively : \"Anything *but* \'exacerbated conflicts\'\".

Your own \"definition\" of an \"exacerbated conflict\" as \"a conflict that be render [SIC] worse for different reasons\", even if it were to be put into comprehensible English, still does not negate the *fact* that, as an idiom, \"exacerbated\" simply doesn\'t fly as an adjective in modern English (though there is very, very limited evidence for its usage as such in some obscure 19th century sources).

So, the \"entire community\'s expert opinion\" ??

I wouldn\'t *dream* of correcting, say, a competent native French speaker regarding a question of idiomatic usage, no matter *how many* websites I might have found \"supporting\" my own interpretation.

Attention, Hacene:

\"Les conflits exacerbes\" c\'est un \"faux ami\".