aggrieve

verb

ag·​grieve ə-ˈgrēv 

aggrieved; aggrieving

transitive verb

1

: to give pain or trouble to : distress

2

: to inflict injury on

Choose the Right Synonym for aggrieve

wrong, oppress, persecute, aggrieve mean to injure unjustly or outrageously.

wrong implies inflicting injury either unmerited or out of proportion to what one deserves.

a penal system that had wronged him

oppress suggests inhumane imposing of burdens one cannot endure or exacting more than one can perform.

a people oppressed by a warmongering tyrant

persecute implies a relentless and unremitting subjection to annoyance or suffering.

a child persecuted by constant criticism

aggrieve implies suffering caused by an infringement or denial of rights.

a legal aid society representing aggrieved minority groups

Examples of aggrieve in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

All of his favorites are somehow aggrieved by their lot in life, and Wicks’ firebrand ways appeal to their sense of justice and vengeance, even if none of their worries are rooted in anything all that real. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 6 Sep. 2025

The show’s palette trends toward bottle-green woods, gauzy golden light, dusky midnight-blue nighttime scenes, and grimly gray interiors, and within those tableaus, Task’s male characters are gorgeously aggrieved, emotion pouring off of them like coffee from a Wawa urn. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025

When Arthur Ashe rejects her appeal to support the cause of the women’s player, she is aggrieved. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2023

And while many of Erdogan’s critics are aggrieved, others saw no viable option besides the president. —Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN, 29 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English agreven "to affect adversely, disturb, distress," borrowed from Anglo-French agrever "to make burdensome, worsen," going back to Latin aggravāre "to weigh down, burden, make worse" — more at aggravate

Note: The vowel -e- in agrever shows influence of grever "to grieve."

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for aggrieve

• achieve
• believe
• conceive
• deceive
• naive
• perceive
• receive
• relieve
• reprieve
• retrieve
• breve
• cleave

Legal Definition

aggrieve

transitive verb

ag·​grieve ə-ˈgrēv 

aggrieved; aggrieving

: to inflict injury on: as

a

: to adversely affect the interests of

was not the party aggrieved by the exemption

b

: to infringe or deny the rights of

a person aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure

—Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 41(g)