Aggravate: Definition, Usage & Examples

Meaning 1：make worse (aggravate)

aggravate 🔊

/ˈæɡ.rə.veɪt/

vt.

To make something bad become even worse, like adding fuel to a fire.

Aggravate meaning illustrated: A stressed driver in traffic made worse by a loud passenger.

make worse 🔊

➕

/meɪk wɜːrs/

vt.

To cause an already bad or undesirable situation, condition, or feeling to become more severe or intense.

📁 Category：Behaviors & Actions 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Latin 'aggravare': ad- (towards) + gravis (heavy, serious) + -ate (verb suffix).

💡 Mnemonic

Think: 'AGgressive GRAVity ATE' the situation, making it heavier and worse.

📖 Example

Scratching the rash will only aggravate it and make it take longer to heal. 🔊 Scratching the rash will only make it worse and prolong the healing process.

🔗 Collocations

aggravate the situation – make a difficult or tense condition more problematic

aggravate an injury – cause an existing physical injury to become more painful or severe

aggravate tensions – increase feelings of strain or hostility between parties

🔄 Synonyms

worsen (v.) – to become or make something become more severe or of poorer quality.

exacerbate (v.) – to make a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling more intense or severe.

intensify (v.) – to increase in degree or strength, often of something negative.

🚫 Antonyms

alleviate (v.) – to make suffering, deficiency, or a problem less severe.

ameliorate (v.) – to make a bad or unpleasant situation better or more tolerable.

improve (v.) – to make or become better.

🌱 Derivatives

aggravation (n.) – the state of being made worse or more severe; a source of annoyance.

📖 Cultural Story

Originating from Latin 'aggravare,' meaning 'to make heavier' (literally and figuratively). Its legal and medical usage to describe making a condition more severe cemented its modern sense of worsening a negative situation.