irritate vs exacerbate

irritate and exacerbate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
irritate	No	No	Yes	No
exacerbate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, exacerbate is a hypernym of irritate; that is, exacerbate is a word with a broader meaning than irritate:

Other hypernyms of irritate include aggravate, exasperate, worsen.

irritate (verb)	exacerbate (verb)
excite to an abnormal condition, or chafe or inflame	make worse
excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus	exasperate or irritate
cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations