Aggravate
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/
Origin
From Latin aggravatus, past participle of aggravare ("to add to the weight of, make worse, oppress, annoy"), from ad ("to") + gravare ("to make heavy"), from gravis ("heavy"). See grave and compare aggrieve and aggredge.
Full definition of aggravate
Verb
- To make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify.To aggravate my woes. —Alexander PopeTo aggravate the horrors of the scene. —William H. Prescott.The defense made by the prisoner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime. —Addison.
- To give coloring to in description; to exaggerate; as, to aggravate circumstances. — William Paley.
- To exasperate; to provoke, to irritate.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa:If both were to aggravate her parents, as my brother and sister do mine.
- 1905, w, w:The Case of Miss Elliott Chapter 1, “It is a pity,†he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus' egg, and is every bit as simple. …”
- 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 85:Ben Bella was aggravated by having to express himself in French because the Egyptians were unable to understand his Arabic.
Usage notes
Although the meaning "to exasperate, to annoy" has been in continuous usage since the 16th century, a large number of usage mavens have contested it since the 1870s. Opinions have swayed from this proscription since 1965, but it still garners disapproval in Garner's Modern American Usage (2009), at least for formal writing.