aggravate
English
Etymology
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From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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.
Pronunciation
Verb
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- To make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 2:
- Once more, the more to aggrauate the note,
With a foule Traitors name ſtuffe I thy throte,
And wiſh (ſo pleaſe my Soueraigne) ere I moue,
What my tong ſpeaks, my right drawn ſword may proue
- (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- […] to aggravate my woes.
- (Can we date this quote by William H. Prescott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- […] to aggravate the horrors of the scene
- (Can we date this quote by Addison and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The defense made by the prisoner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime.
- To give coloring to in description; to exaggerate.
- He aggravated the story.
- 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, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Ayrsham Mystery[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.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa:
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.
Synonyms
- (to make worse): heighten, intensify, increase, magnify, exaggerate, exacerbate
- (to exasperate): provoke, irritate, exasperate
- See also Thesaurus:annoy
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
To make worse, or more severe
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To give coloring to in description; to exaggerate; as, to aggravate circumstances
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To exasperate; to provoke; to irritate
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Further reading
- “aggravate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “aggravate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Italian
Verb
aggravate
- second-person plural present indicative of aggravare
- second-person plural imperative of aggravare
- feminine plural of aggravato
Latin
Verb
(deprecated template usage) aggravāte
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English terms with quotations
- Requests for date/Alexander Pope
- Requests for date/William H. Prescott
- Requests for date/Addison
- English terms with usage examples
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian verb forms
- Italian past participle forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin verb forms