aggravate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aggravō (“to weigh down, burden, make worse”), from its past participle aggravātus,^[2][3][4][5] formed from ad- and gravō (“to make heavy, weigh down”),^[3][6][4] from gravis (“heavy”),^[6][3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“heavy”).^[3][6] The OED holds that the English word was at first modelled on Middle French agraver, aggraver,^[2] and Barnhart and Hoad likewise think it probably came through the influence of the French verb.^[8][9] The verb was preceded by an adjective aggravate, recorded from 1471, which is from the Latin participle.^[2][8] It is a doublet of aggrieve, which came through Old French agrever,^[8][7] and the earlier English verb with this meaning was Middle English aggrege, from agreger.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make heavy, burden or weigh down: 1530, in John Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse.^[2][8][4] The adjective, recorded from 1471, meant according to the OED "under ecclesiastical censure", and according to Barnhart "weighed down, burdened", in Ripley's Compend of Alchemy.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the verb was used figuratively from the start, and that "to make worse" was well established by the end of the 16th century;^[7] the OED dates making an offence more heinous to 1542 and making suffering or a problem worse to 1576, while Etymonline dates "to make a bad thing worse" to the 1590s.^[2][3] In the 16th century it also meant to exaggerate (1533) and to bring a charge against someone (1541).^[2] The sense "to exasperate, annoy" is recorded in Florio's dictionary of 1598,^[2] in Cotgrave's of 1611 according to Barnhart,^[8] and is colloquial;^[3] the literal sense "to make heavy" was obsolete by the early 17th century.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave only the figurative "to make heavy", as in aggravating an accusation or punishment.^[10] From 1835 it was also used in medicine of irritating or inflaming a part of the body.^[2]

Timeline

• 1471 – adjective aggravate, under ecclesiastical censure (obsolete by 1591).^[2]
• 1530 – verb, to make heavy, burden (obsolete by 1603).^[2][8]
• 1533 – to exaggerate (obsolete).^[2]
• 1541 – to bring a charge against someone (obsolete).^[2]
• 1542 – to make an offence more serious.^[2]
• 1576 – to make suffering or a problem worse.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1590s.^[3]
• 1598 – to exasperate, annoy.^[2] Barnhart dates it to 1611 and Etymonline to the 1610s.^[8][3]
• 1835 – to irritate or inflame physically.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a problem, illness or offence worse or more serious; to exacerbate: Running on the injured knee only aggravated it.^[11][2]
2. (informal) To annoy or exasperate, especially by persistent goading.^[11][2]
3. (obsolete) To make heavy; to burden.^[2][4]

Word family

• aggravatingly
• aggravative
• aggravator
• reaggravate
• aggro
• overaggravate

Related words

• aggravation
• aggrieve
• grave
• gravity
• grief
• grieve

Usage notes

Some usage writers hold that aggravate should mean only "to make worse", not "to irritate".^[12] Fowler wrote that it properly has only that one meaning.^[3][12] The American Heritage Dictionary points out that the sense "to irritate" goes back to the 17th century and was accepted by 68 percent of its Usage Panel, and quotes Fowler's own remark that the step from aggravating a person's temper to aggravating the person is slight and natural.^[12] Wiktionary notes that the objection dates from the 1870s and that Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) still disapproves of the sense in formal writing.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin