aggravate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make worse or more severe; intensify, as anything evil, disorderly, or troublesome.
to aggravate a grievance; to aggravate an illness.
- Antonyms:
- alleviate
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to annoy; irritate; exasperate.
His questions aggravate her.
-
to cause to become irritated or inflamed.
The child's constant scratching aggravated the rash.
verb
-
to make (a disease, situation, problem, etc) worse or more severe
-
informal to annoy; exasperate, esp by deliberate and persistent goading
Usage
The two most common senses of aggravate are “to make worse” and “to annoy or exasperate.” Both senses first appeared in the early 17th century at almost the same time; the corresponding two senses of the noun aggravation also appeared then. Both senses of aggravate and aggravation have been standard since then. The use of aggravate to mean “annoy” is sometimes objected to because it departs from the etymological meaning “to make heavier,” and in formal speech and writing the sense “annoy” is somewhat less frequent than “to make worse.” The noun aggravation meaning “annoyance” occurs in all types of speech and writing.
Related Words
Aggravate, intensify both mean to increase in degree. To aggravate is to make more serious or more grave: to aggravate a danger, an offense, a wound. To intensify is perceptibly to increase intensity, force, energy, vividness, etc.: to intensify heat, color, rage.
Other Word Forms
- aggravating adjective
- aggravation noun
- aggravative adjective
- aggravator noun
- overaggravate verb (used with object)
- preaggravate verb (used with object)
- reaggravate verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of aggravate
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin aggravātus (past participle of aggravāre ), equivalent to ag- ag- + grav- ( grave 2 ) + -ātus -ate 1; aggrieve
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Smith-Griffin pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
From Los Angeles Times
The retailer's attempt to humanise its chat bot may have backfired, as some users said that Olive was "obnoxious," while another said that they found its small talk "aggravating."
From BBC
When he and his family moved to a quiet Brooklyn street, instead of basking in relief he quickly found himself aggravated by barking dogs and other fresh triggers.
A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage after graffiti was sprayed on the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, the Metropolitan Police said.
From BBC
And while the Eagles rode the maneuver to a Super Bowl, the rest of the league found it so aggravating and unsightly that certain teams pushed unsuccessfully last year to ban it from the game.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
