asper, -pera, -perum, adj. rough, sharp, fierce

Aeneid, 1.13-14, Karthago ... dives opum studiisque asperrima belli (Carthage ... rich in resources and very fierce in the pursuits of war). cf. asperitas, unevenness, roughness. Eng. exasperate, to make very angry or impatient; annoy greatly; to increase the gravity or intensity of. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, ch. 34: WHEN they were gone, Elizabeth, as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Darcy, chose for her employment the examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her since her being in Kent.