| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 19. aggravate |
| Aggravate need not be an aggravating word. It comes from the Latin verb aggravare, which has two meanings: “to make heavier,” that is, “to add to the weight of,” and “to annoy,” “oppress,” “burden.” When some people nowadays claim that aggravate should mean only “to make worse” and not “to irritate,” they ignore not only an English sense in use since the 17th century but also one of the original Latin ones. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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