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:
"You can use this knowledge to help bedridden patients. They also experience constipation and likely also have increased protein fermentation that may aggravate health conditions," concludes Lars Ove Dragsted, senior author of the paper.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
Or does it only further aggravate the sense of loss?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
If inhaled at high levels, fumes can aggravate a person’s lungs, causing coughing, wheezing and chest tightness.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
For lawyer and activist Arif Ali Cangi, the legislation approved in July, which allows companies to expropriate or rezone agricultural land for mining, will only aggravate the situation.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
Rowdy could see that Gandy was just about all in and he figured it was a good time to aggravate him a little.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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
"The worst time for me is when we're driving in the autumn and the sun is low and the sun is flickering through the trees...it really aggravates," says Dr Munro.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
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
Meanwhile, the crisis has been aggravated by lagging salaries.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
And even the people who love me can get aggravated by all the ways I’m impulsive, bossy, overwhelming and judgmental.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 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
I tried not to sound aggravated about it.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
Rushing received platelet-rich plasma injection after aggravating the flexor injury a second time while working through a throwing program at the beginning of the month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Kazakhstan's cloud-seeding trials raised alarm in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan where fears were flagged of "cloud theft" -- alleging that rain clouds could be diverted to Kazakhstan, aggravating its own drought.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
He’s been throwing weighted plyo balls to keep his arm strength up without aggravating his knee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
If central banks cut interest rates to boost growth during a period of stagflation they run the risk of further aggravating inflation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Equally aggravating was the fact that there still was no Eiffel challenger.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
