aggravate - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

The adjective is first attested in 1471 in Middle English, the verb in 1530; from Latin aggravātus, perfect passive participle of aggravō (“to add to the weight of, make worse, oppress, annoy”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to”) + gravō (“to make heavy”), from gravis (“heavy”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See grave and compare aggrieve and aggrege. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English. By surface analysis, ag- +‎ grave (“heavy”) +‎ -ate (“verb suffix”).

aggravate (third-person singular simple present aggravates, present participle aggravating, simple past and past participle aggravated)

  1. To make (an offence) worse or more severe; to increase in offensiveness or heinousness. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: add insult to injury, twist the knife; see also Thesaurus:make matters worse
    Antonyms: pour oil on troubled waters, alleviate
    • 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
    • 1709, Joseph Addison, The Tatler:
      The defense made by the prisoner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime.
  2. (by extension) To make (any bad thing) worse. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: exacerbate; see also Thesaurus:aggravate
    Antonyms: alleviate, mitigate
    • 1837, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic:
      […] to aggravate the horrors of the scene
  3. (now rare) To give extra weight or intensity to; to exaggerate, to magnify. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: heighten, intensify, increase, magnify; see also Thesaurus:increase
    He aggravated the story.
  4. (obsolete) To pile or heap (something heavy or onerous) on or upon someone. [16th–18th c.]
    Synonyms: dogpile, heap on, pile on
    • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 28:
      In order to lighten the crown still further, they aggravated responsibility on ministers of state.
  5. (now chiefly colloquial; often proscribed; see usage notes) To exasperate; to provoke or irritate. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: provoke, irritate, exasperate; see also Thesaurus:annoy
    • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 85:
      Ben Bella was aggravated by having to express himself in French because the Egyptians were unable to understand his Arabic.

To make worse, or more severe

To exasperate; to provoke; to irritate

aggravate (comparative more aggravate, superlative most aggravate) (obsolete)

  1. (as a participle) Aggravated.
  2. Loaded, burdened, weighed down.
  3. (in a bad sense) Heightened, intensified.
  4. (religion) Under ecclesiastical censure, excommunicated.

aggravate

  1. inflection of aggravare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

aggravate f pl

  1. feminine plural of aggravato

aggravāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of aggravō