Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AG-GRA-VA'TION, n.

1. The act of making worse, used of evils, natural or moral; the act of increasing severity or hainousness; addition to that which is evil or improper; as, an aggravation of pain or grief.
2. Exaggerated representation, or heightened description of any thing wrong, improper, or unnatural; as, an aggravation of features in a caricature. – Paley. Addison.