aggravate
v.v. to make a problem, pain, or situation worse. You use this when something makes you feel more annoyed or when a physical injury gets more painful.
v. to make a condition, problem, or feeling worse or more severe. Often used in medical contexts to describe the worsening of symptoms or in legal contexts to describe an increase in the seriousness of a crime.
The cold weather aggravates my back pain.
The loud construction noise outside the office aggravates the staff, making it difficult to concentrate on their work.
While the initial injury was minor, the repetitive strain of the job eventually aggravates the condition, leading to a more significant and costly recovery period.
The adjective is first attested in 1471 in Middle English, the verb in 1530; from Latin aggravātus, perfect passive participle of aggravō (“to add to the weight of, make worse, oppress, annoy”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ad- (“to”) + gravō (“to make heavy”), from gravis (“heavy”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See grave and compare aggrieve and aggrege. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.