Synonyms

aggravating

American

[ag-ruh-vey-ting] / ˈæg rəˌveɪ tɪŋ /

adjective

causing or full of aggravation.

I've had an aggravating day.

Other Word Forms

aggravatingly adverb
unaggravating adjective

Etymology

Origin of aggravating

First recorded in 1630–40; aggravat(e) + -ing ²

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.

Without sense, it could be a myopic rumination on climate change mixed with a treacly buddy comedy, where two opposing temperaments clash into a discordant, aggravating mess.

From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026

The starting point was the aggravating factors - length of time of the wrongdoing, the size of payments, that they were made with the knowledge of senior figures and the seriousness of the breaches.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

And while the Eagles rode the maneuver to a Super Bowl, the rest of the league found it so aggravating and unsightly that certain teams pushed unsuccessfully last year to ban it from the game.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

It’s all fittingly itchy for literature’s most aggravating couple and a story that chafes against the convention that love wins — or even that love is good.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026

“All the more reason to go,” he said, with a smile I would have found appealing if his flippancy wasn’t so aggravating.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023