different between insult vs aggravate

English

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle French insulter (modern French insulter (“to insult”)) or its etymon Latin ?nsult?re, present active infinitive of ?nsult? (“to spring, leap or jump at or upon; to abuse, insult, revile, taunt”), the frequentative form of ?nsili? (“to bound; to leap in or upon”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + sali? (“to bound, jump, leap; to spring forth; to flow down”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to spring”)).

The noun is derived from Middle French insult (modern French insulte (“insult”)) or its etymon Late Latin insultus (“insult, reviling, scoffing”), from ?nsili? (“to bound; to leap in or upon”); see above.

Pronunciation

• Verb:
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ?ns?lt?, IPA^(key): /?n?s?lt/
• Noun:
  • enPR: ?n?s?lt, IPA^(key): /??ns?lt/
• Rhymes: -?lt
• Hyphenation: in?sult

Verb

insult (third-person singular simple present insults, present participle insulting, simple past and past participle insulted)

1. (transitive) To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone). [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: disrespect, affront, disgrace, slander, discourtesy, offense

   Antonym: compliment
2. (transitive, also figuratively, obsolete) To assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone). [16th–19th c.]
4. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To leap or trample upon.

Conjugation

Related terms

• insolence
• insultation

Translations

Noun

insult (countable and uncountable, plural insults)

1. (uncountable) Action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.

   Synonyms: affront, (slang) diss, (obsolete) insultation, (Britain) offence, (US) offense, pejorative, (US, colloquial) slam, slight, slur; see also Thesaurus:offense

   Antonym: compliment
2. (countable) Something that causes offence (for example, by being of an unacceptable quality).

   Synonyms: disgrace, outrage
3. (countable, medicine) Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.
4. (countable, also figuratively, archaic) An assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.
5. (countable, obsolete) An act of leaping upon.

Derived terms

• add insult to injury

Translations

References

Further reading

• insult on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• insult (medical) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• insult (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• sunlit, unlist, unslit

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /in?sul(t)/

Noun

insult m (plural insults)

1. insult

Related terms

• insultar

Further reading

• “insult” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [in?sult]

Verb

insult

1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of insulta

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?