Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Irritate or aggravate?

Irritate or aggravate?Very frequently used as though they are interchangeable, thesetwo words do have different meanings. Though it's true that 'irritate' can alsomean 'aggravate', aggravate cannot generally mean 'irritate' in proper usage.
Irritate: verb - excite,rouse or provoke a person; aggravate, excite or provoke an action or emotion; exciteto impatience or anger, annoy, exasperate; in medicine, to excite an organ toabnormal action or condition; produce an unpleasant sensation or inflammation; inbiology, to produce a response in an organ by some form of stimulus.
Aggravate: verb - loadsomeone or something with; bring as a charge against; strengthen, increase, ormagnify; colloquial only - exasperate or annoy someone.
'Caffeine can irritate the bladder in certain people,causing them to urinate more frequently.'
'Brian would frequently irritate Margaret with his obsessivechecking whether he had locked the doors before leaving the house.'
'The political extremists brought in Rent-a-Mob to aggravatethe situation on the protest, creating violence where there had previously beena peaceful protest.'
'Charlie would often aggravate Donna's insecurity bydeclaring she was fat and lazy.'
Pic: The rocky coast near Sissi, Crete.