The basic meanings of this root are ‘heavy, serious’. If you look grave, you have a serious expression. (The has nothing to do with the grave in which people are buried. That word comes from a Germanic root meaning ‘to dig’.) Seriousness is therefore gravity. This word also refers to the heavy pull of the Earth. Hence to gravitate, ‘to be pulled or attracted towards’.
Aggra vate is made up ad-, to + grav + -ate, to make. So aggra vating something means adding to its heaviness or seriousness. You might aggra vate a cold by going out in the rain. From this meaning comes the more common modern sense of ‘to annoy, provoke’.
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