Meaning & use
aggravate
Last updated
To make a problem, injury, or bad situation worse.
See it in a sentence
Scratching the rash will only aggravate it.
His comment aggravated an already tense situation.
A note on using this word
In careful or formal usage, 'aggravate' means to make something worse, not to 'annoy'; the informal sense of 'annoy' (as in 'he aggravates me') is extremely common in casual speech but often flagged as incorrect in formal writing.
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
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