aggrieve

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɡɹiːv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv

Verb

aggrieve (third-person singular simple present aggrieves, present participle aggrieving, simple past and past participle aggrieved)

1. (transitive) To cause someone to feel pain or sorrow to; to afflict

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hurt, Thesaurus:sadden

   • 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 58:

     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.

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To grieve; to lament.

   Synonyms: mourn, rue; see also Thesaurus:be sad

Usage notes

Now commonly used in the passive, to be aggrieved.

Derived terms

• aggrievement
• aggriever

 

Translations

to give pain or sorrow to, to afflict, to oppress

• Bulgarian: увреждам (bg) (uvreždam), онеправдавам (bg) (onepravdavam)
• German: kränken (de), verletzen (de) (figurative)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaurjan)
• Maori: whakamauāhara

to grieve, to lament

References

• “aggrieve”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.