Meaning & use
aggravation
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableinformal
Annoyance or trouble caused by something that keeps bothering you.
Grammar: Uncountable for the general feeling; countable for a particular annoyance: the many aggravations of travel.
Patterns
- aggravation from something
- save yourself the aggravation
Lost luggage caused us a great deal of aggravation.
I took the train to avoid the aggravation of finding parking.
Dealing with the insurance company was nothing but aggravation.
noununcountableformal
The act of making a bad condition, problem or injury worse.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the aggravation of the injury.
Patterns
- the aggravation of something
Long hours of standing led to aggravation of his back pain.
The new tax risks an aggravation of the housing crisis.
Word forms
| plural | aggravations |
|---|
Common combinations
- save yourself the aggravation
- Book ahead and save yourself the aggravation of long lines.
- cause aggravation
- The constant noise caused aggravation among the neighbors.
- a lot of aggravation
- Moving house brings a lot of aggravation.
- aggravation of symptoms
- The cold air led to an aggravation of his symptoms.
- nothing but aggravation
- The cheap printer turned out to be nothing but aggravation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- annoyance
- Annoyance is milder and can be brief, while aggravation implies ongoing, wearing trouble.
- irritation
- Irritation is a slight feeling of anger, while aggravation focuses on the cause of repeated hassle.
- hassle
- Hassle is more casual and describes the trouble itself, where aggravation stresses the feeling it causes.
- worsening
- Worsening fits the second sense and means a problem getting worse, without any suggestion of annoyance.
Opposites
Word family
- aggravate verb
- to make worse or to annoy
- aggravated adjective
- made worse, or in law, made more serious
- aggravating adjective
- annoying or making a problem worse
- aggravatingly adverb
- in an annoying way
Commonly confused: aggravation or agitation?
aggravation vs agitation
Agitation is a state of nervous excitement or worry, whereas aggravation is annoyance from a problem or the worsening of one.
Practice
Which sentence uses aggravation in the sense of making a problem worse?
Choose one answer.
The aggravation of the injury means the injury got worse. The other sentences use the common sense of annoyance.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “aggravation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.