aggravate

Aggravate is a verb with several related senses. The principal meaning is to make something worse or more serious, such as a condition, problem, or situation. It can also refer to increasing the intensity of pain, symptoms, or negative effects. In everyday usage, aggravate may also mean to irritate or annoy someone, especially when actions or remarks provoke a reaction.

In medical and general use, a factor that aggravates a condition tends to worsen it. For example, exposure to dust can aggravate asthma, or stress can aggravate a headache. In casual speech, to aggravate someone means to provoke them or increase their irritation.

In law, aggravate refers to circumstances that increase the seriousness of an offense, such as prior convictions, cruelty, or planning. Those factors are called aggravating circumstances; they can lead to harsher penalties.

Etymology and usage notes: aggravate originates from Old French aggraver, from Latin gravis meaning heavy. In addition to its general sense of worsening, aggravate can carry the sense of irritating someone, as well as a specialized legal meaning. It is a transitive verb and is typically used with an object, for example, “to aggravate a condition” or “to aggravate a crime.” While related to exacerbate, aggravate is more likely to be used in everyday speech to denote both worsening and causing irritation, depending on context.

See also: aggravation; aggravating circumstances.