AGGRAVATE

transitive verb (-vated; -vating) see: grieve Date: 1530 1. obsolete to make heavy ; burden , increase , to make worse, more serious, or more severe ; intensify unpleasantly , 3. to rouse to displeasure or anger by usually persistent and often petty goading, to produce inflammation in, Usage: Although ~ has been used in sense 3a since the 17th century, it has been the object of disapproval only since about 1870. It is used in expository prose but seems to be more common in speech and casual writing . Sense 2 is far more common than sense 3a in published prose. Such is not the case, however, with aggravation and aggravating. Aggravation is used in sense 3 somewhat more than in its earlier senses; aggravating has practically no use other than to express annoyance.