aggravation
/ˌaɡrəˈveɪʃn
/noun [mass noun]
1The state of becoming worse or more serious; exacerbation: the patient experienced an aggravation of symptoms...
- He pitched in an extended spring training game last week with no further aggravation.
- In addition, 4 individuals had histories consistent with environmental aggravation of preexisting respiratory disease.
- They also observed an occasional initial aggravation in symptoms with homoeopathy.
Synonyms
worsen, make worse, exacerbate, inflame, compound;
intensify, increase, heighten, magnify, add to, amplify, augment;
add fuel to the fire/flames, add insult to injury, rub salt in the wound
worsening, exacerbation, compounding;
intensification, increase, heightening, magnification, amplification, augmentation
2 informal Annoyance or exasperation: the whole business has caused me a lot of aggravation I don’t need this aggravation...
- The boilerplate license agreements have been an additional source of aggravation.
- For their sakes I shall have to suffer the aggravations of travelling alone.
- Perhaps I need to find a private moment of zen each day, a way to let the aggravation fly away from here.
2.1Aggressive behaviour; harassment.I didn't have the nerve to confront them, fearing further aggravation....
- When I first started clubbing I used to dread the brawls and aggravation.
- Let's get together and have a competition with all the best pilots without the aggravation found at the Worlds.