aggravation

English

Etymology

From Middle French aggravation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌæɡɹəˈveɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

aggravation (countable and uncountable, plural aggravations)

1. The act of aggravating, or making worse; used of evils, natural or moral; the act of increasing in severity or heinousness; something additional to a crime or wrong and enhancing its guilt or injurious consequences.

   Synonym: exacerbation

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter X, in The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     Adrian, whose health had always been weak, now suffered considerable aggravation of suffering from the effects of his wound.

2. Exaggerated representation.
3. An extrinsic circumstance or accident which increases the guilt of a crime or the misery of a calamity.
4. (informal) Provocation, irritation, annoyance.
   • 1968, Mac Davis, Billy Strange (lyrics and music), “A Little Less Conversation”, performed by Elvis Presley:

     A little less conversation, a little more action please / All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me

Derived terms

• overaggravation
• reaggravation

 

Related terms

• aggravate

Translations

act of aggravating

• Bulgarian: влошаване (bg) (vlošavane), утежняване (utežnjavane)
• Dutch: verergering (nl)
• Finnish: ärsyttäminen (fi), suututtaminen (fi)
• German: Erschwerung, Verärgerung (de), Zuspitzung (de), med. Verschlechterung, erschwerender Umstand
• Portuguese: agravamento (pt) m, agravação (pt) f, agravo (pt) m
• Spanish: agravio (es) m

exaggerated representation

extrinsic circumstance or accident which increases the guilt of a crime or the misery of a calamity

• Finnish: raskauttava asianhaara
• French: circonstances aggravantes (fr) f pl
• Hungarian: súlyosbító körülmény
• Portuguese: agravante (pt) m
• Spanish: agravante (es) m

Further reading

• “aggravation”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “aggravation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “aggravation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

aggravation f (plural aggravations)

1. aggravation

Further reading

• “aggravation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.