aggravate

== English == === Etymology === 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. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): (verb) /ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/ IPA(key): (adjective) /ˈæɡɹəvət/ (Indic) IPA(key): /əɡrəˈveʈ/, /ˈaɡrəveʈ/ === Verb === aggravate (third-person singular simple present aggravates, present participle aggravating, simple past and past participle aggravated) 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 (by extension) To make (any bad thing) worse. [from 16th c.] Synonyms: exacerbate; see also Thesaurus:aggravate Antonyms: alleviate, mitigate (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 (obsolete) To pile or heap (something heavy or onerous) on or upon someone. [16th–18th c.] Synonyms: dogpile, heap on, pile on (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 ==== 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. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== aggravation ==== Translations ==== === Adjective === aggravate (comparative more aggravate, superlative most aggravate) (obsolete) (as a participle) Aggravated. Loaded, burdened, weighed down. (in a bad sense) Heightened, intensified. (religion) Under ecclesiastical censure, excommunicated. ==== Further reading ==== “aggravate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “aggravate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. == Italian == === Etymology 1 === ==== Verb ==== aggravate inflection of aggravare: second-person plural present indicative second-person plural imperative === Etymology 2 === ==== Participle ==== aggravate f pl feminine plural of aggravato === Anagrams === aggrevata == Latin == === Verb === aggravāte second-person plural present active imperative of aggravō