aggravate
Americanverb (used with object)
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aggravates,
present (3rd person singular)
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aggravated,
past participle, past
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aggravating
present participle
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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.
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to cause to become irritated or inflamed.
The child's constant scratching aggravated the rash.
verb
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to make (a disease, situation, problem, etc) worse or more severe
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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.
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
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aggravationnoun
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aggravatornoun
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overaggravateverb (used with object)
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preaggravateverb (used with object)
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reaggravateverb (used with object)
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aggravatingadjective
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aggravativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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aggravatesimple
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aggravatessimple
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have aggravatedperfect
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has aggravatedperfect
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am aggravatingprogressive
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are aggravatingprogressive
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is aggravatingprogressive
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have been aggravatingperfect progressive
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has been aggravatingperfect progressive
Past
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aggravatedsimple
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had aggravatedperfect
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was aggravatingprogressive
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were aggravatingprogressive
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had been aggravatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of aggravate
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin aggravātus (past participle of aggravāre ), equivalent to ag- ag- + grav- ( see grave 2) + -ātus -ate 1; cf. aggrieve
Explanation
People who chew with their mouths open often aggravate the people near them, meaning that they exasperate their neighbors. One trick for remembering the meaning of aggravate is to recall that it rhymes with one of its synonyms, irritate. When you irritate, you aggravate. Younger brothers often aggravate their older brothers, because they find it entertaining to get a reaction out of them. Aggravate is also used to mean "make worse." For example, if you have an old knee injury, it's probably best not to climb Mount Everest, because you might aggravate the injury. If your house is in foreclosure, calling your banker an ugly name is likely only to aggravate the situation. Try a little sweet talk instead!
Vocabulary lists containing aggravate
Good Grief!: Grav, Griev
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Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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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.
See Examples For:
Researchers suspect this could contribute to a self-reinforcing cycle in which Alzheimer's pathology disturbs sleep, and inadequate sleep may further aggravate the disease.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Holiday lets "can generate important economic and social benefits, especially for households struggling to make ends meet" but "they may also aggravate housing demand pressures in some constrained local housing markets," the EU draft read.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
In fact, the so-called positive attributes men are told to cultivate aggravate his woefulness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
McIlroy is confident he would not aggravate the injury were he to play here this week.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
I was peeved enough at Roy Lee to not answer, but then I figured it would aggravate him more to tell the truth.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
NOx is a smog-forming pollutant that aggravates respiratory illnesses, especially asthma, forms acid rain and contributes to nutrient pollution in coastal waters.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
The document asks all the right questions and reaches all the wrong conclusions—the way a doctor might correctly identify symptoms and then prescribe a remedy that aggravates the disease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Turning our heads toward the future aggravates the whiplash induced by rapid change.
From Salon ● May 30, 2026
Padgett prays daily to help him manage the pain of his third bout of cancer and the multiple herniated disks that sleeping on the ground aggravates.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2025
This aggravates his father no end, and several other adults have made nasty remarks about it too.
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
Plummeting share prices for the Korean memory chip makers were aggravated by a drop in chip stocks in the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
That helps explain why voters might be aggravated and still surprised when they see, for example, a $5 price tag on a gallon of milk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
It states that the offence was aggravated under Section 31 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, as amended by the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021, because it had a "terrorist connection".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Nevertheless, Thursday’s news that a jury in Norristown, Pennsylvania, found Cosby guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, came as a shock.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2018
The more he fooled around, the more aggravated I became.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
The plaintiffs cite an additional aggravating factor: Shell's "history of misinformation regarding the causes and impacts of climate change," said Greg Lascelles, a lawyer at Hausfeld, the firm handling the lawsuit in London.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The judge said there were a number of aggravating factors in the case against Keenan, including his failure to identify himself as the driver at the time.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
First baseman Freddie Freeman was out of the lineup Monday managing right knee soreness, and second baseman Miguel Rojas was playing through shoulder soreness after aggravating a longstanding partial tear in a labrum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
In the lawsuit, Baker-Mazara alleges he tried to return, despite aggravating a knee injury, but Musselman chose not to insert him into the lineup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
But Lindsey seemed to find it more aggravating than not-interesting.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
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