aggravated assault
25
7.9
- noun
- /ˈæɡrəˌveɪtɪd əˈsɔlt/
- NSFW
:
agresión agravada
- The man was sentenced to five years in prison for committing aggravated assault with a baseball bat.
- aggravated assault and robbery
- aggravated assault or battery
- charged with aggravated assault
Examples
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Brandon pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
Academic text (2001) -
No sex offenders, murderers, or inmates convicted of aggravated assault were allowed to volunteer for the program.
Academic text (2005) -
Drunk driving, domestic abuse, aggravated assault.
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Davis was charged with aggravated assault.
Academic text (2001) -
One juvenile male was charged with aggravated assault and robbery.
Blog text (2) -
In the Sunday night case, police arrested Adam J. Delano, 23, and charged him with aggravated assault.
Blog text (1) -
Aggravated assault, resisting arrest, the list goes on and on.
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More than 50% of the crimes of violence, especially aggravated assault, occur during the daytime hours from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Academic text (2016) -
Since 1988, the arrest rates of juveniles for serious violent crimes, including aggravated assault, robbery, and murder, have increased by 50 percent.
Academic text (1997) -
Aggravated assault is a second-degree felony in this state, Mister... Reacher.
How Violent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'aggravated' means made more serious or worsened and 'assault' means an attack, so together they denote an assault made more serious (often by a weapon or other aggravating factors). This legal collocation follows a predictable modifier+noun pattern that is mirrored in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
Aggravated assault uses the word aggravated meaning 'made more serious' and assault meaning 'an attack'. So the name paints a simple picture: it is an attack that is worse than a normal one, often with a weapon or causing serious harm, which is why it means 'a very serious attack'.