- anger
- anger n Anger, ire, rage, fury, indignation, wrath denote emotional excitement induced by intense displeasure.Anger, the generic term of this group, names merely the emotional reaction; the word in itself suggests no definite degree of intensity and carries no necessary implication of outward manifestation{
tried to conceal his anger
}{easily aroused to anger
}{self-destroying anger
}{he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot— Exod 32:19
}Ire is literary and suggests greater intensity than anger unqualified and usually a display of that feeling in looks, acts, or words{Belinda burns with more than mortal ire— Pope
}{“Then, my lad, ye’ve come to tell me a lie! ” Farmer Blaize looked straight at the boy, undismayed by the dark flush of ire he had kindled— Meredith
}Rage adds to anger the implications of lost self-control and of violent boiling over of feeling; it often connotes variously a sense of frustration, a temporary derangement of the mind, or a determination to get revenge{terrible and impotent rage— Wilde
}{his first hot anger against the beast had changed into a cold rage: at all costs now he must get it— Cloete
}Fury is overmastering destructive rage verging on madness{what fury drove us into saying the stupid, intolerant, denunciatory things we said?— L. P. Smith
}{the war against physical evil, like every other war, must not be conducted with such fury as to render men incapable of the arts of peace— Russell
}Indignation implies depth and intensity of anger, often righteous or generous anger, aroused by something one considers mean, shameful, or otherwise unworthy of a man or men{whose souls no honest indignation ever urged to elevated daring— Shelley
}{the question now placed before society . . . is this: Is man an ape or an angel? I, my lord, I am on the side of the angels. I repudiate with indignation and abhorrence those newfangled theories— Disraeli
}Wrath may imply either rage or indignation as its emotional basis, but more strongly than either of these it suggests existence of a grievance and a desire or intent to avenge or punish or to get revenge{the wrath of God
}{let not the sun go down upon your wrath— Eph 4:26
}{nursing her wrath to keep it warm— Burns
}Analogous words: *acrimony, asperity: exasperation, irritation, provocation (see corresponding verbs at IRRITATE)Antonyms: pleasure, gratification: forbearanceContrasted words: *patience, longanimity, long-suffering: forgiveness, condonation, pardon (see corresponding verbs at EXCUSE): indulgence, clemency, leniency (see under FORBEARING)anger vb Anger, incense, enrage, infuriate, madden. All these verbs carry in common with anger, their general term, the denotation to make angry or to rouse to anger{laugh then at any, but at fools or foes; these you but anger, and you mend not those— Pope
}{angered by his son’s repeated disobedience
}Incense implies hotness of anger, especially as provoked by something excessively irritating and offensive{Mr. Critchlow, aged and unaccustomed to interference, had to render accounts of his trusteeship to this young man, and was incensed— Bennett
}{magistrates and populace were incensed at a refusal of customary marks of courtesy and respect for the laws— lnge
}Enrage suggests a violent display of wrath or fury{I pray you, speak not . . . question enrages him— Shak.
}Infuriate may imply a sense of being outraged or sometimes no more than of being thoroughly irritated or exasperated{how it infuriates a bigot, when he is forced to drag into the light his dark convictions!— L. P. Smith
}{his colleagues and his subordinates had been alternately delighted and infuriated by his assumed reluctance to deal with any practical question— Sackville-West
}Madden is often not distinguishable from infuriate{can it be fancied that Deity ever vindictively made in his image a mannikin merely to madden it?— Poe
}Like the former it may imply merely excessive annoyance or vexation{maddening delays
}Analogous words: *offend, outrage, affront: exasperate, provoke, *irritate, nettle, rile: vex, *annoy, irkAntonyms: please, gratify: pacify
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
