aggravation

From Middle French aggravation.

• IPA^(key): /ˌæɡɹəˈveɪʃən/

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

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. […], volumes (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

• aggravate

• “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.

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aggravation f (plural aggravations)

1. aggravation

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