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annoyed; irritated:
i get so aggravated when i get this much junk mail.
law. characterized by some feature defined by law that enhances the crime, as the intention of the criminal or the special vulnerability of the victim: aggravated -ssault; aggravated rape.
to make worse or more severe; intensify, as anything evil, disorderly, or troublesome:
to aggravate a grievance; to aggravate an illness.
to annoy; irritate; exasperate:
his questions aggravate her.
to cause to become irritated or inflamed:
the child’s constant scratching aggravated the rash.
contemporary examples

a recent article in a medical journal called it ‘aggravated -ssault.’
right or wrong, force-feeding is ugly: an ill-strated guide michael keller, clarisa diaz, abby haglage june 19, 2013

i replied, now aggravated myself, that we blacks would love nothing better than to “just let this race thing go,” but “go” where?
gates’ historical baggage mansfield frazier july 25, 2009

but he still faces charges of “aggravated pimping” in lille, north of paris.
dominique strauss-kahn talks comeback with parisian magazine le point tracy mcnicoll october 9, 2012

four broke off ambien usage after experiencing impaired concentration, continuing or aggravated depression, and manic reaction.
is the ‘ambien defense’ total bullsh-t? janelle dumalaon april 14, 2014

the two responding officers, cuong sam and bryon hargis, could have charged rice with aggravated -ssault, a felony.
ray rice should have remembered his ‘kindness’ anti-bullying wristband michael daly september 9, 2014

historical examples

and naturally, ordinary trials of boarding-house life were aggravated by circ-mstance.
four years in rebel capitals t. c. deleon

in his every scheme for a huge success i took now an aggravated delight.
the harbor ernest poole

tchaikovskys anxiety was aggravated by the fear that his favourite work might disappear altogether from the repertory.
the life & letters of peter ilich tchaikovsky modeste tchaikovsky

the cruel sensations of imogen were not aggravated by despair, but heightened by hope.
imogen william g-dwin

the habitual improvidence of the poor is aggravated in their case by the dangerous fluctuation of their trade.
quarterly journal of science, literature and the arts, july-december, 1827 various

adjective
(law) (of a criminal offence) made more serious by its circ-mstances
verb (transitive)
to make (a disease, situation, problem, etc) worse or more severe
(informal) to annoy; exasperate, esp by deliberate and persistent goading
adj.

1540s, “increased, magnified,” past participle adjective from aggravate. meaning “irritated” is from 1610s; that of “made worse” is from 1630s. the earlier adjective was simply aggravate (late 15c.).
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 circ-mstances is recorded from 1790.