Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make worse or more troublesome.
- v. To rouse to exasperation or anger; provoke. See Synonyms at annoy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Literally, to add weight to or upon; increase the amount, quantity, or force of; make heavier by added quantity or burden.
- To make more grave or heavy; increase the weight or pressure of; intensify, as anything evil, disorderly, or troublesome: as, to aggravate guilt or crime, the evils or annoyances of life, etc.
- To exaggerate; give coloring to in description; give an exaggerated representation of: as, to aggravate circumstances.
- To provoke; irritate; tease.
- Synonyms To heighten, raise, increase, magnify; overstate. See list under exaggerate.
Wiktionary
- v. To make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify.
- v. To give coloring to in description; to exaggerate; as, to aggravate circumstances. — William Paley.
- v. To exasperate; to provoke; to irritate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make heavy or heavier; to add to; to increase.
- v. To make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify.
- v. To give coloring to in description; to exaggerate.
- v. To exasperate; to provoke; to irritate.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make worse
- v. exasperate or irritate
Etymologies
- Latin aggravāre, aggravāt- : ad-, ad- + gravāre, to burden (from gravis, heavy; see gwerə-1 in Indo-European roots).
Examples
“The word aggravate annoys him, so say irritate instead?”
“I also get annoyed with people who seem to think that 'aggravate' and 'irritate' are synonyms.”
“Pope denounces condom use in Africa - in fact, he says condoms "aggravate" the problem of AIDS.”
“Nevertheless, the international credit crunch and the weakening of global growth will "aggravate" the slowdown of the Icelandic economy, Mr. Haarde said.”
“I'm going to let the use of "aggravate" in lieu of "irritate" slide, though.”
“The party was reacting to what it called the ANC's decision in the National Assembly's land affairs committee to "aggravate" the provisions of the Bill.”
“Basil's lips in spite of a vow he had just taken not to say anything that should "aggravate" his hostess, who was in a state of tension it was not difficult to detect.”
“I thought 'aggravate' meant making worse than it is," said quiet little Mary Pinfall.”
“I'm not sure what this misinformed individual means by "aggravate" in "It doesn't aggravate the need for more electrical transmission grid.”
“Debt charity, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, said the decline would "aggravate" the level of repossessions.”
Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aggravate’.
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Eesily missspellable words
absence, abundance, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, across and 420 more...
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See list under
Being a list of words which have the phrase "see list under" somewhere in their definitions.
Also, further proof that the folks who put together the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia w...aggravate, exaggerate, abash, affliction, ponder, abject, dolorous, spelt

calcalvinvin you are aggravating her. Jul 25, 2011