Meanings
present singular third person aggrieves · participle present aggrieving · participle past aggrieved · past aggrieved
- transitiveTo cause someone to feel pain or sorrow to; to afflict
1 more example
Right is positive; wrong is negative—is merely the negation of right; as cold is the negation of heat—darkness of light. That a thing may be wrong, it is necessary that there be some other thing in relation to which it is wrong—some condition which it fails to satisfy; some law which it violates; some being whom it aggrieves.
1848 March, Edgar A[llan] Poe, Eureka: A Prose Poem, New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] P[almer] Putnam, of late firm of “Wiley & Putnam,” […], →OCLC, page 58Synonyms: ache, afflict, agonize, anguish, dere, excruciate, hurt, irritate
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo cause someone to feel pain or sorrow to; to afflict
verbTo grieve; to lament.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latingravare“to weigh down”
- Old Frenchagrever
- Middle Englishagreven
- Englishaggrieve
From Middle English agreven, from Old French agrever; a (Latin ad) + grever (“to burden, injure”), from Latin gravare (“to weigh down”), from gravis (“heavy”). See grieve, and compare with aggravate.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian увреждам, онеправдавам
- увреждам (uvreždam)to give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress
- онеправдавам (onepravdavam)to give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress
Finnish loukata
- loukatato give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress
German kränken, verletzen
- kränkento give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress
- verletzento give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress
Māori whakamauāhara
- whakamauāharato give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with aggrieve
Cite this entry
aggrieve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aggrieve
“aggrieve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aggrieve. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aggrieve,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aggrieve.
Source: aggrieve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.