Aggravate is a verb meaning to make a situation worse or to annoy or irritate someone. It often implies increasing intensity or provoking distress, sometimes deliberately or through negligence. In usage, it can describe both aggravating a problem and aggravating a person’s feelings, with nuance depending on context and tone.
"The delay in filing the report will only aggravate the situation."
"Don’t tease him about his mistake; it will aggravate him."
"The loud arguing outside aggravated the neighbors’ discomfort."
"You shouldn’t aggravate your shoulder by lifting heavy boxes without support."
Aggravate comes from the Latin aggravare, which means to heap together or to increase. The Latin root ag- means “to do, drive, or act,” and gravare means “to heavify, to make heavy.” The term entered Middle English via Old French aggravuer, capturing the sense of making something heavier or more troublesome. Historically, the word carried both physical and figurative weight—the idea of aggravating a burden, a problem, or an offense. Over time, English usage shifted toward social and emotional aggravation: to cause irritation, anger, or intensification of a troublesome situation. By the 16th century, aggravate was established in legal and everyday vocabulary, evolving to a broader sense of making something worse or more serious. In modern usage, aggravate commonly collocates with problems, symptoms, or emotions, and appears in both formal and informal registers. First known use traces to early modern English writings where physicians and lawyers described aggravating factors in cases and complaints, and the verb maintained its core sense of adding weight or complexity to an existing issue.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Aggravate" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Aggravate" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Aggravate"
-ate sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Pronunciation is AG-grə-vayt. Primary stress on the first syllable /ˈæɡ.rəˌveɪt/ in broad IPA. In careful speech you’ll hear three syllables: ag-gra-vate, with the middle syllable reduced to a schwa in many dialects for natural flow. An audio reference you can check is standard dictionaries or pronunciation videos that model /ˈæɡ.rəˌveɪt/ and listen for the final /eɪt/ glide. Mouth position: start with a short open front vowel /æ/ for AG, then a relaxed /ɡ/ followed by /rə/ with a neutral schwa, finishing with /veɪt/ where the lips widen for /eɪ/ before a light t release.
Two common errors are: 1) stressing the second syllable (AG-gra-vate) instead of the first, and 2) mispronouncing the final vowel as a short /ɪ/ or /ə/ instead of the /eɪ/ sound in /veɪt/. Correct by practicing the three-syllable pattern AG-grə-vate with a clear /eɪ/ on the last syllable and keeping the middle syllable reduced to /ə/. Slow, deliberate enunciations help fix both issues.
In US, UK, and AU accents, the initial /æ/ vowel in AG is consistent, with primary stress on the first syllable. The main differences are vowel quality in the final /eɪt/: US and UK typically align to /veɪt/ with a longer diphthong; Australian English often shows a slightly more centralized vowel in the second syllable but preserves /ˈæɡ.rəˌveɪt/. Non-rhotic variants may reduce rhoticity in some speakers, but the final /t/ remains released in careful speech. Overall, the rhythm and stress pattern stay similar across three accents.
The challenge lies in maintaining three distinct syllables with stable stress: AG-gra-vate. The first as /æ/, the middle reduced to /rə/ or /rəɡ/ depending on speed, and the final /eɪt/ that requires a precise glide from /eɪ/ to /t/ release. Avoid over-articulating the middle syllable; keep it light to prevent breaking the word’s flow. Practicing with spoken sentences and listening to native models helps internalize the timing and transitions between syllables.
A common unique concern is pronunciation when the word is preceded by a consonant cluster or follows a suffix: 'aggravating' or 'aggravation'. The root pronunciation remains AG-grə-vayt, but in connected speech the final /t/ can be softened or alveolar-tapped in rapid talk, and the /ə/ may become a schwa or even vanish in casual speech. Practice with the suffix forms to keep the base stress stable and ensure the final vowel doesn’t drag into the next word.
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