noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 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. countable, uncountable

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

2. 2
   action that makes a problem or a disease (or its symptoms) worse wordnet
3. 3
   Exaggerated representation. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment wordnet
5. 5
   An extrinsic circumstance or accident which increases the guilt of a crime or the misery of a calamity. countable, uncountable

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6. 6
   an exasperated feeling of annoyance wordnet
7. 7
   Provocation, irritation, annoyance. countable, informal, uncountable

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

Synonyms

All synonyms

exacerbationprovocationdeteriorationaccelerandoaccelerationadverse circumstances

Antonyms

All antonyms

extenuating circumstance

Example

More examples

"I have aggravation after eating."

Etymology

From Middle French aggravation.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.