aggravate

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"Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. transitive verb To make worse or more troublesome.
  2. transitive verb To rouse to exasperation or anger; provoke. See Synonyms at annoy.
  3. usage note
    Aggravate comes from the Latin verb aggravāre, which meant "to make heavier,” that is, "to add to the weight of.” It also had the extended senses "to annoy” and "to oppress.” Some people claim that aggravate can only mean "to make worse,” and not "to irritate,” on the basis of the word's etymology. But in doing so, they ignore not only an English sense in use since the 17th century, but also one of the original Latin ones. Sixty-eight percent of the Usage Panel approves of its use in It's the endless wait for luggage that aggravates me the most about air travel.

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Examples (50)

  • How far knowledge and ignorance may aggravate or excuse, increase or diminish the goodness or evil of our actions? —  Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Rich'd Hooker, George Herbert, etc., Volume Two
  • "Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband." —  Newsvine - Get Smarter Here
  • Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband —  Sadly, No!
  • "Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband." dennis prager? this is not a joke question. —  Think Progress
  • And a low growth international economy could well in my view actually aggravate, at least in the medium and long term, the availability and prices. —  Videos (RSS 2.0)
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aggravate:   aggravating ·  aggravated ·  aggravates
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin aggravāre, aggravāt- : ad-, ad- + gravāre, to burden (from gravis, heavy; see gwerə-1 in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin aggravatus, past participle of aggravare, adgravare, add to the weight of, make worse, oppress, annoy, from ad, to, + gravare, make heavy, from gravis, heavy: see grave. Cf. aggrieve and aggredge.
 

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/ˈægrəveɪt/
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