aggravating

adjective

ag·​gra·​vat·​ing ˈa-grə-ˌvā-tiŋ 

1

informal : arousing displeasure, impatience, or anger

an aggravating habit

2

: increasing the seriousness of (a crime)

aggravating circumstances like recklessness

Usage of Aggravate, Aggravated, Aggravating, and Aggravation

Aggravate can mean both "to make worse or more serious" and "to make angry or irritated especially by bothering again and again," but writers for most of the 20th century were advised against the latter, and this meaning is still not encountered frequently in formal contexts. Likewise, the meanings of aggravated, aggravating, and aggravation that relate to anger or irritation are most at home in informal use.

Synonyms of aggravating

• annoying
• frustrating
• irritating
• disturbing

Examples of aggravating in a Sentence

there's nothing so aggravating as a blaring car alarm that no one is paying any attention to

Recent Examples on the Web

Arguments like this go back and forth and round and round, both sides—both truths—defining, aggravating, intensifying one another. — Kyle Devine, Longreads, 14 July 2026

Prosecutors contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. — Hannah Schoenbaum, Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2026

In addition, they are expected to argue the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. — ABC News, 7 July 2026

They are also expected to argue the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. — Hannah Schoenbaum, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of aggravate

First Known Use

1673, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for aggravating

• abdicating
• abrogating
• activating
• actuating
• advocating
• aggregating
• agitating
• allocating
• alternating
• animating
• annotating
• antedating