aggravation

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1. The 20th century has seen an increase in the harassment of appointed or elected officials and of other people in positions of authority, e.g. schoolteachers. The words most commonly used in this context is aggravation (first recorded in this meaning in 1939), and its colloquial equivalent is aggro (1969). In more recent use they have come to signify trouble or difficulty in general:

Members of the public are quite able to make their own claims assisted and guided by department officials without having these people coming in and causing aggravation—Times, 1978

A certain amount of agricultural aggro is a regular part of the French way of public life—Times, 1984

I am acutely conscious that I have been a source of aggravation to Pa recently over my stupid allergy to vegetables—I. Maitland, 1993.

2. Aggravation is still used to mean 'making more serious or grave': e.g.

It would have been a very unnecessary aggravation of his difficulties to have two different popes in lands which he intended to unite once more—R. W. Southern, 1990.

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noun

1. Something that annoys: annoyance, besetment, bother, irritant, irritation, nuisance, peeve, plague, torment, vexation. See feelings, pain/pleasure.
2. The feeling of being annoyed: annoyance, bother, botheration, exasperation, irritation, vexation. See feelings, pain/pleasure.

n

Definition: worsening
Antonyms: improvement

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Any circumstances surrounding the commission of a crime that increase its seriousness or add to its injurious consequences.

Such circumstances are not essential elements of the crime but go above and beyond them. The aggravation of a crime is usually a result of intentional actions of the perpetrator. Such crimes are punished more severely than the crime itself. One of the most common crimes that is caused by aggravation is aggravated assault.

IN BRIEF: The fact of being made worse.

Learning to spell at a young age saves a lot of later aggravation.

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In homeopathy, worsening of symptoms associated with inadequate potency of the remedy used.