Definition of "aggravate"

aggravate

/ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/

verb
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.
  Quotations
  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
  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, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 2
  The defense made by the prisoner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime.
  1709, Joseph Addison, The Tatler
2. (by extension) To make worse; to exacerbate.
  Quotations
  to aggravate my woes.
  1726, Homer, “Book XVI”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot
  […] to aggravate the horrors of the scene
  1837, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic
3. (now rare) To give extra weight or intensity to; to exaggerate, to magnify.
4. (obsolete) To pile or heap (something heavy or onerous) on or upon someone.
  Quotations
  In order to lighten the crown still further, they aggravated responsibility on ministers of state.
  1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 28
5. (now chiefly colloquial) To exasperate; to provoke or irritate.
  Quotations
  If both were to aggravate her parents, as my brother and sister do mine.
  1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […]
  Ben Bella was aggravated by having to express himself in French because the Egyptians were unable to understand his Arabic.
  1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 85

Definition of "aggravate"

aggravate

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations