Antagonize vs Aggravate - What's the difference?
antagonize | aggravate |
To work against; oppose; especially to incite reaction.
To make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify.
To give coloring to in description; to exaggerate; as, to aggravate circumstances. — .
To exasperate; to provoke, to irritate.
* 1748 , (Samuel Richardson), Clarissa :
* {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
, title=
, chapter=1 * 1977 , (Alistair Horne), A Savage War of Peace , New York Review Books 2006, p. 85:
As verbs the difference between antagonize and aggravate
is that antagonize is to work against; oppose; especially to incite reaction while aggravate is to make worse, or more severe; to render less tolerable or less excusable; to make more offensive; to enhance; to intensify.antagonize
English
Alternative forms
* antagonise (non-Oxford British spelling)Verb
- The other children constantly antagonized Joe to the point of tears.
Synonyms
* pester, harass, opposeAntonyms
* appease, quellaggravate
English
Verb
(aggravat)- To aggravate my woes. —
- To aggravate the horrors of the scene. —.
- The defense made by the prisoner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime. —Addison.
- If both were to aggravate her parents, as my brother and sister do mine.
citation, passage=“It is a pity,” he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus' egg, and is every bit as simple. […]”}}
- Ben Bella was aggravated by having to express himself in French because the Egyptians were unable to understand his Arabic.