aggravation
/,ægrə'veiʃn/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- The act of making a problem, situation, or condition worse: The action of increasing the severity, seriousness, or gravity of something.
- A source of persistent annoyance or irritation: Something that causes feelings of frustration or exasperation.
- The feeling of being annoyed or exasperated: The state or experience of being irritated or provoked.
Examples of Usage
Noun (Making something worse):
- The constant noise was an aggravation of his headache.
- The policy change led to the aggravation of social tensions.
Noun (Source of annoyance):
- The slow internet connection is a major aggravation when I'm trying to work.
- Dealing with the bureaucracy was a daily aggravation.
Noun (Feeling of annoyance):
- He felt a sense of aggravation after the third failed attempt.
- Her voice was full of aggravation as she explained the problem again.
Advanced Usage
Legal Context: In law, "aggravation" can refer to circumstances that increase the seriousness or culpability of an offense.
- The court considered the use of a weapon as an aggravation of the assault charge.
Medical Context: In medicine, it describes the worsening of a disease or its symptoms.
- The patient experienced an aggravation of symptoms following the treatment.
Variants and Related Words
Aggravate (verb): To make a problem, injury, or offense worse or more serious. Also, to annoy or irritate.
- Scratching will only aggravate the rash.
- His constant questions began to aggravate her.
Aggravating (adjective): Making a problem or offense worse or more serious. Also, causing annoyance or irritation.
- Aggravating circumstances led to a harsher sentence.
- It was an aggravating delay.
Synonyms
- Exacerbation: The act of making a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse.
- Irritation: The state of feeling annoyed, impatient, or slightly angry.
- Provocation: Action or speech that makes someone annoyed or angry, especially deliberately.
- Annoyance: The feeling or state of being annoyed; a thing that annoys someone.
Related Phrases
- Cause for aggravation: A reason or source of annoyance.
- The persistent errors were a constant cause for aggravation.
Idioms and Common Expressions
- Adding insult to injury / Adding aggravation to injury: This phrase is a variant meaning to make a bad situation even worse for someone.
- To add aggravation to the injury of losing his wallet, it started to rain.
Noun
- action that makes a problem or a disease (or its symptoms) worse
- the aggravation of her condition resulted from lack of care
- unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment
- an exasperated feeling of annoyance