Aggravating

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Increasing the severity or seriousness of a problem or condition ; causing feelings of annoyance or frustration
2. Making something more intense or harmful in effect ; provoking irritation or displeasure
3. Worsening a situation or condition deliberately or unintentionally ; acting in a way that irritates or bothers others

Etymology: Latin "gravis" meant "heavy", and the verb "aggravare" built on it meant literally to add weight to something. A burden that was already heavy could be made heavier by piling more on top, and that physical image is the root of everything the word does today. Latin writers also used the verb for oppression and annoyance, so the sense of pressing down on someone was present from the start. English took the verb in the 1500s, and it spent its early career in the literal sense of making something heavier before the figurative sense of making a bad situation worse became dominant. The adjective "aggravating" appears in Middle English in 1471 and was used as a participial adjective for centuries before it settled into its current role describing things that irritate or intensify trouble.

Synonyms: irritating, annoying, exasperating

Antonyms: soothing, calming