aggrieve

UK/əˈɡɹiːv/US/əˈɡɹiːv/

verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — aggrieved sits at #12,784Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: aggrieved

To aggrieve is to make somebody feel unfairly treated. An aggrieved party, sound aggrieved, deeply aggrieved.

The participle is the only common form, and in law an aggrieved person is one with standing to complain, which is a real test rather than a feeling. In speech, sounding aggrieved is doing more complaining than the case supports.

Definitions of aggrieve

1verbaggrieveTo make somebody feel unfairly treated.C2
“It aggrieved him that his younger colleague was promoted first.”

aggrieve is a wronging.

Where it comes from

Old French agrever comes from Latin gravare, to weigh down, from gravis, heavy.

Proto-Indo-European
*gʷreh₂-
Latin
gravare — to weigh down
Old French
agrever
Middle English
agreven
English, today
aggrieve

Built from

grever · Old French — to burden, injure
gravis · Latin — heavy

From Middle English agreven, from Old French agrever; a + grever (“to burden, injure”), from Latin gravare (“to weigh down”), from gravis (“heavy”). See grieve, and compare with aggravate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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