The verb aggravate means "to make worse" and, according to some style guides, should not be confused with the verb irritate, which means "to annoy." But see the usage notes below.
Examples:
- Many of the government's actions aggravate rather than alleviate the stresses on families.
- Government interference can be extremely irritating to ordinary citizens.
Usage Notes:
- "Aggravate comes from the Latin verb aggravre, which meant 'to make heavier,' that is, 'to add to the weight of.' It also had the extended senses 'to annoy' and 'to oppress.' Some people claim that aggravate can only mean 'to make worse,' and not 'to irritate,' on the basis of the word's etymology. But in doing so, they ignore not only an English sense in use since the 17th century, but also one of the original Latin ones. Sixty-eight percent of the Usage Panel approves of its use in It's the endless wait for luggage that aggravates me the most about air travel."
("aggravate," The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fourth edition, 2000) - "It turns out that the original meaning of aggravate (1530) was not 'to make worse,' but 'to make heavy; to load, burden, weigh down.' That meaning is now obsolete; it disappeared sometime in the seventeenth century. The Morrises [in the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage] meaning 'to make worse' didn't come along until 1597; that may mean that the two meanings were in simultaneous use, but by ignoring the one that was recorded earliest the Morrises, in effect, slant the question. . . .
"At any rate, . . . it is too late to stop people from using [aggravate] to mean 'exasperate, or provoke,' because they've been doing it since 1611 (Cotgrave: 'Aggravanter, to aggravate, exasperate'). Among writers who have used aggravate to mean 'exasperate' are Richardson, Thackeray, and Dickens, which should be enough to make the word respectable in any company."
(Jim Quinn, American Tongue and Cheek, Pantheon Books, 1980)
Practice:
(a) I try to be patient with Charles, but his loud laugh ______ me.
(b) Since grief only ______ your loss, grieve not for what is past.
