aggrieve
Americanverb (used with object)
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to oppress or wrong grievously; injure by injustice.
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to afflict with pain, anxiety, etc.
verb
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(often impersonal or passive) to grieve; distress; afflict
it aggrieved her much that she could not go
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to injure unjustly, esp by infringing a person's legal rights
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of aggrieve
1250–1300; Middle English agreven < Middle French agrever < Latin aggravāre to make heavy, worsen, equivalent to ag- ag- + grav- ( see grave 2) + -āre infinitive suffix; cf. aggravate
Explanation
To aggrieve someone is a lousy thing to do. Not sure why? See the "grieve" in there, and you'll see why. It means to bring someone sorrow. Which one of us is the aggrieved party? Well, considering it was you who let your pigs run roughshod over my lawn, I think it's clear that it's you who aggrieved me. Or, to put it another way, I've been aggrieved by you and your horrible hogs. When you're talking about interpersonal issues, to aggrieve someone is to hurt their feelings, but in the legal sense, it means something slightly different: it's not feelings that are hurt when one is aggrieved, but one's rights.
Vocabulary lists containing aggrieve
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Good Grief!: Grav, Griev
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They are notorious goons, despised virtually everywhere for their ability to agitate, aggrieve and annoy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
The government says the main legislation relevant to spiking is Section 24 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which includes maliciously administering poison with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy that person.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2024
“That is going to aggrieve the victims of the institution of slavery, which are the direct descendants of the enslaved people in the United States,” she said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2022
The morals still aggrieve him and, even with Terry no longer around, that makes it a calculated gamble on Hodgson's part.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2013
And wherefore yet delayeth the reprieve Of Love, that doth not willingly afflict Its children, neither wantonly aggrieve?
From Old-Fashioned Ethics and Common-Sense Metaphysics With Some of Their Applications by Thornton, William Thomas
The fury from PlayStation die-hards, gamers more broadly, and even creators, has been absolutely boiling ever since the announcement, which earned thousands of aggrieved comments on the brand’s own website.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
But these revitalized Knicks—for decades themselves a Schadenfreudist’s delight, a faded franchise with crabby ownership and aggrieved fans—are giving even skeptical out-of-towners a case of the Manhattan warm ’n’ fuzzies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Just make sure you don’t become so aggrieved or embittered that you let it affect your job performance.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
Cran said it could reconsider its decision either "on its own motion or on a petition filed by an aggrieved party" within 90 days.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
Its tone was that of a kindly heart aggrieved by injuries undeserved.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Medium has taken different strategic paths, sometimes aggrieving writers with its sudden shifts in focus.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
For writers, editors, graphic designers, and others on gig work platforms, navigating resellers have become an aggrieving part of the grind that can border on deceitful.
From The Verge ● Feb. 9, 2022
It is an unorthodox interview because the Football Association, mindful of aggrieving City, have asked Lescott to keep the subject to England and not discuss club issues when, of course, the two are intrinsically linked.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2013
How does Moscow satisfy the growing hunger for self-rule in the republics without aggrieving the large numbers of local Russians?
From Time Magazine Archive
On each side there was an aggrieved and aggrieving subordinate general, Sickles on the Federal side, Longstreet on the other.
From Captains of the Civil War; a chronicle of the blue and the gray by Wood, William Charles Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.