Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

aggravate

/ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/ verb, adjective

Forms aggravates aggravating aggravated

  1. verb To make (an offence) worse or more severe; to increase in offensiveness or heinousness.
  2. verb (by extension) To make (any bad thing) worse.
  3. verb (now rare) To give extra weight or intensity to; to exaggerate, to magnify. “He aggravated the story.”
  4. verb (obsolete) To pile or heap (something heavy or onerous) on or upon someone.
  5. verb (now chiefly colloquial; often proscribed; see usage notes) To exasperate; to provoke or irritate.
  6. adjective (as a participle) Aggravated.
  7. adjective Loaded, burdened, weighed down.
  8. adjective (in a bad sense) Heightened, intensified.
  9. adjective (religion) Under ecclesiastical censure, excommunicated.

Synonyms

add insult to injury twist the knife add fuel to the fire cap it all off fan the flames make matters worse throw gasoline on the fire With malice hit someone when they are down kick a dog when it's down kick someone when they are down punch down put the boot in rub it in rub salt in the wound strike someone when they are down exacerbate heighten intensify increase worsen exasperate

Antonyms

pour oil on troubled waters alleviate mitigate ameliorate improve repair restore

Etymology

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. By surface analysis, ag- + grave (“heavy”) + -ate (“verb suffix”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To make heavy or heavier; to add to; to increase. [Obs.] "To aggravate thy store." Shak.
  2. verb To make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify. "To aggravate my woes." Pope.

Etymology [L. aggravatus, p. p. of aggravare. See Aggrieve.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “aggravate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details