Synonyms

aggravating

American

[ag-ruh-vey-ting] / ˈæg rəˌveɪ tɪŋ /

adjective

causing or full of aggravation.

I've had an aggravating day.

Other Word Forms

aggravatingly adverb
unaggravating adjective

Etymology

Origin of aggravating

First recorded in 1630–40; aggravat(e) + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The retailer's attempt to humanise its chat bot may have backfired, as some users said that Olive was "obnoxious," while another said that they found its small talk "aggravating."

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

And while the Eagles rode the maneuver to a Super Bowl, the rest of the league found it so aggravating and unsightly that certain teams pushed unsuccessfully last year to ban it from the game.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

It’s all fittingly itchy for literature’s most aggravating couple and a story that chafes against the convention that love wins — or even that love is good.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026

All of this makes for an exasperating experience, but what’s most aggravating is that we’ve stood for this for so long.

From Salon • Jan. 25, 2026

“All the more reason to go,” he said, with a smile I would have found appealing if his flippancy wasn’t so aggravating.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023