different between aggravate vs pique

English

Etymology

From Latin aggravatus, past participle of aggravare (“to add to the weight of, make worse, oppress, annoy”), from ad (“to”) + gravare (“to make heavy”), from gravis (“heavy”). See grave and compare aggrieve and aggrege.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ?.??.ve??t/

Verb

aggravate (third-person singular simple present aggravates, present participle aggravating, simple past and past participle aggravated)

1. To make (an offence) worse or more severe; to increase in offensiveness or heinousness. [from 16th c.]
   • 1709 Joseph Addison, The Tatler

     The defense made by the prisoner's counsel did rather aggravate than extenuate his crime.

2. (by extension) To make worse; to exacerbate. [from 16th c.]
   • 1837, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic

     […] to aggravate the horrors of the scene

3. (now rare) To give extra weight or intensity to; to exaggerate, to magnify. [from 16th c.]

4. (obsolete) To pile or heap (something heavy or onerous) on or upon someone. [16th–18th c.]
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford 2009, p. 28:

     In order to lighten the crown still further, they aggravated responsibility on ministers of state.

5. (now chiefly colloquial) To exasperate; to provoke or irritate. [from 16th c.]
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa:

     If both were to aggravate her parents, as my brother and sister do mine.

   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 85:

     Ben Bella was aggravated by having to express himself in French because the Egyptians were unable to understand his Arabic.

Usage notes

Although the meaning "to exasperate, to annoy" has been in continuous usage since the 16th century, a large number of usage mavens have contested it since the 1870s. Opinions have swayed from this proscription since 1965, but it still garners disapproval in Garner's Modern American Usage (2009), at least for formal writing.

Synonyms

• (to make worse): heighten, intensify, increase, magnify, exaggerate, exacerbate
• (to exasperate): provoke, irritate, exasperate
• See also Thesaurus:annoy

Antonyms

• (to make worse): alleviate, mitigate

Related terms

• aggravation

Translations

Further reading

• aggravate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• aggravate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Verb

aggravate

1. second-person plural present indicative of aggravare
2. second-person plural imperative of aggravare
3. feminine plural of aggravato

Latin

Verb

aggrav?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of aggrav?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?k, IPA^(key): /pi?k/
• Homophones: peak, peek, peke
• Rhymes: -i?k

Etymology 1

From Middle French pique (“a prick, sting”), from Old French pic (“a sharp point”). Doublet of pike (“long pointed weapon”). Compare Spanish picar (“to sting”).

Noun

pique (countable and uncountable, plural piques)

1. A feeling of enmity; ill-feeling, animosity; a transient feeling of wounded pride.
   • 1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety

     Men take up piques - and displeasures at others.

   • 1854, Thomas De Quincey, On War

     Wars had arisen […] upon a personal pique.

2. A feeling of irritation or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little thought or consideration.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 7:

     This defiance was not a fit of pique, but a matter of principle.

   • 1957, Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, Sweet Smell of Success

     You think this is a personal thing with me? Are you telling me I think of this in terms of a personal pique?

3. (obsolete) Keenly felt desire; a longing.
   • 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras

     Though it have the pique, and long, / 'Tis still for something in the wrong.

Translations

Verb

pique (third-person singular simple present piques, present participle piquing, simple past and past participle piqued)

1. (transitive) To wound the pride of; to excite to anger.

   Synonyms: sting, nettle, irritate, fret

   • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 11

2. (reflexive) To take pride in; to pride oneself on.

3. (transitive) To stimulate (a feeling, emotion); to offend by slighting; to excite (someone) to action by causing resentment or jealousy.

   Synonyms: excite, stimulate

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prior to this entry?)

Translations

Etymology 2

From French pic.

Noun

pique (plural piques)

1. (card games) In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.

Verb

pique (third-person singular simple present piques, present participle piquing, simple past and past participle piqued)

1. (card games, transitive) To score a pique against.

Etymology 3

From Spanish pique, from Central Quechua piki.

Noun

pique (plural piques)

1. A chigger or jigger, Tunga penetrans.

Etymology 4

From French piqué, past participle of piquer (“to prick, quilt”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pi?ke?/

Noun

pique (countable and uncountable, plural piques)

1. A durable ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk.

References

• “pique”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Equip., equip, pequi

French

Etymology

Deverbal of piquer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pik/

Noun

pique f (plural piques)

1. pike, lance

pique m (plural piques)

1. (card games) spade (as a card suit)

Descendants

• ? German: Pik n

  ? Macedonian: ??? m (pik)

  ? Serbo-Croatian: m

  Cyrillic: ????

  Latin: p?k

  ? Slovene: pík

• ? Polish: pik m

Verb

pique

1. inflection of piquer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

See also

Further reading

• “pique” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Noun

pique f (plural piques)

1. Alternative form of picque

Portuguese

Etymology

From Middle French picque (“a prick, sting”), from Old French pic (“a sharp point”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pi.ki/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /?pi.ke/

Noun

pique m (plural piques)

1. any spear

   Synonyms: hasta, lança

2. or specifically a pike

   Synonym: chuço

3. hide-and-seek (game)

   Synonyms: esconde-esconde, pique-esconde

Derived terms

• a pique, ir a pique

Verb

pique

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of picar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of picar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of picar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of picar

Spanish

Etymology

From picar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pike/, [?pi.ke]

Noun

pique m (plural piques)

1. (card games) spade
2. downward movement
   1. jump, leap
3. hit, fix (of drugs)
4. rivalry, loggerheads
5. grudge match

Derived terms

Verb

pique

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of picar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of picar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of picar.