• vt. 加重；使惡化；激怒

前綴ag-同ad-, 向，往。詞根grav, 重，見gravity, 重力。

aggravate

aggravate: [16] Aggravate originally meant literally ‘to weigh down’ or ‘to make heavier’ (it was modelled on Latin aggravare ‘to make heavier’, which in turn was based on gravis ‘heavy’, source of English gravity and grief; its first cousin is aggrieve [13], which came via Old French agrever). From the first it was generally used in a metaphorical sense, and by the end of the 16th century the meaning ‘to make worse’ was well established. The sense ‘to annoy’, which some purists still object to, dates from at least the early 17th century.
=> grave, gravity, grief

aggravate (v.)

1520s, "make heavy, burden down," from past participle adjective aggravate "burdened; threatened" (late 15c.), from Latin aggravatus, past participle of aggravare "to render more troublesome," literally "to make heavy" (see aggravation). Earlier in this sense was aggrege (late 14c.). Meaning "to make a bad thing worse" is from 1590s; that of "exasperate, annoy" is from 1610s.

To aggravate has properly only one meaning -- to make (an evil) worse or more serious. [Fowler]

Related: Aggravated; aggravating. Phrase aggravating circumstances is recorded from 1790.

1. Pollution can aggravate asthma.

污染會使氣喘加重。

來自《權威詞典》

2. Men aggravate me when they go on about how impractical women are.

男人們不斷地談論女人是如何不切實際的時候使我惱火.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. Threats will only aggravate her.

恐嚇只能激怒她.

來自《現代英漢綜合大詞典》

4. Don't aggravate me, child.

孩子,不要惹我生氣.

來自《現代英漢綜合大詞典》

5. If the reports are well founded, the incident could seriously aggravate relations between the two nations.

如果這些報道是有根據的，那么該事件將有可能導致兩國之間的關系嚴重惡化。

來自柯林斯例句