rage
/reɪdʒ
/noun
1 [mass noun] Violent uncontrollable anger: her face was distorted with rage [count noun]: he flew into a rage...
- Alex is extremely intelligent with a propensity for fits of anger and uncontrollable rage.
- Diana's sadness slowly faded as she turned her attention towards Lethe, and an uncontrollable eruption of rage built up inside of her.
- No matter how neutral his face was, Chris' eyes burned with an almost uncontrollable rage.
Synonyms
temper, fit of rage/fury/anger/temper, fit of bad/ill temper, towering rage, bad temper, pet, fit of pique, tantrum, fury, frenzy of rage/anger, rampage, paroxysm of rage/anger, passion, bad mood, mood
informal grump, strop, state
North American informal blowout, hissy fit
British informal, dated bate, wax, skid
archaic paddywhack
1.1 [with modifier] Anger or aggression associated with conflict arising from a particular situation: office rage is on the increase...
- Air rage on a flight to the sun cost 10 Irish holidaymakers hundreds of pounds each when they had to make their own way home.
- Air rage, DVT, in-flight radiation - these are flimsy reasons for staying out of the skies.
- A recent journal article on desk rage identified shrinking workspaces as one pressure point in the office environment.
Synonyms
fury, anger, wrath, outrage, indignation, passion, hot temper, spleen, resentment, pique, annoyance, vexation, exasperation, displeasure, bitterness, rancour, antagonism, hostility;
air rage
literary ire, choler
1.2The violent action of a natural agency: the rising rage of the sea...
- Michi's eyes reflected the uncontrolled rage of the sea, and the frigid savagery of ice.
- The heavens cry and moan as the wind's rage stirs up the burning tempest of the sky, tears are unleashed from the firmament, cold and tasteless.
2 [in singular] A vehement desire or passion: a rage for absolute honesty informs much western art...
- But as always, this coexists with a rage for order, a need to analyse, to simplify, to compress.
- Never in the history of the world has there been such a rage for exhibitionism.
- This rigid, yet elegant geometry asserts a rage for order.
Synonyms
craze, passion, fashion, taste, desire, craving, appetite, trend, vogue, fad, enthusiasm, love, obsession, compulsion, weakness, fondness, fixation, fetish, mania, fascination, preoccupation
informal thing, yen
rare cacoethes
2.1 (the rage) A widespread temporary enthusiasm or fashion: computer games are all the rage...
- By the 1920s when this was filmed, this belief was widespread and all the rage.
- Archaeologists were more interested in the perfect preservation of many textiles which gave a unique insight into items of fashion all the rage in 14th century Hull.
- Style and fashion was all the rage this week as the Oscars took place last Sunday night.
Synonyms
very popular, in fashion, in style, in vogue, (all) the fashion, the (latest) craze, the (latest) thing, (all) the vogue, in (great) demand, much sought-after, ultra-fashionable;
French le dernier cri
informal in, the in thing, cool, big, trendy, hot, hip
British informal, dated all the go
2.2 literary Prophetic, poetic, or martial enthusiasm or ardour: Leaden Age, Quicken’d with Youthfull Spleene, and Warlike Rage
3Australian /NZ informal A lively party: the sound of the rage filled the campus...
- An under-age rage will be the first event of the PCYC-based club.
- Fate threw us together one night when we both were up for a bit of a rage and so went to see The Bird perform.
verb [no object]
1Feel or express violent uncontrollable anger: he raged at the futility of it all [with direct speech]: ‘That’s unfair!’ Maggie raged...
- ‘This administration knew about this at least three weeks ago,’ a red-faced, angry Dean raged at reporters.
- She'd lost count of the number of times he had raged at her and in November 2002 she told him she was leaving the practice.
- We have all raged at those dangerous idiots who insist on driving one-handed down the motorway at 80 mph while gabbling into a mobile phone.
Synonyms
be angry, be furious, be enraged, be incensed, be infuriated, seethe, be beside oneself, have a fit, boil, be boiling over, rant, rave, rant and rave, storm, fume, spit, breathe fire, burn
informal be livid, be wild, jump up and down, froth/foam at the mouth, be steamed up, have steam coming out of one's ears
British informal do one's head/nut in, spit feathers
protest strongly at, complain vociferously about, disagree violently with, oppose strongly, denounce;
fulminate, storm, inveigh, rail, kick, expostulate, make a fuss about
informal kick up a fuss/stink about
1.1Continue with great force or intensity: the argument raged for days the children had to seek shelter while the storm raged at 3 a.m., the party was still raging...
- The war was still raging and would continue to do so for some weeks.
- As the war raged on, changes continued to take place in Britain.
- Now, more than a decade later, a political battle rages between the forces of nationalism and Socialism.
Synonyms
be violent, be at its height, be turbulent, be tempestuous, be uncontrollable, thunder, rampage
1.2 [with adverbial of direction] (Of an illness or fire) spread very rapidly or uncontrollably: the great cholera epidemic which raged across Europe in 1831...
- With the sprinkler systems disabled, the fires raged uncontrollably, weakening the steel and leading to the collapse of the buildings.
- As the blaze raged on fire chiefs decided it was too dangerous to tackle directly.
- The bush fires are raging all round Sydney, the farmlands are parched but here is the rain and temperatures plunge to their lowest since 1924.
1.3(Of an emotion) have or reach a high degree of intensity: she couldn’t hide the fear that raged within her...
- The President's face remained composed, masking the turmoil and terror raging within, as his cerebrum went into gridlock.
- A feeling raged suddenly within me and my fists automatically clenched.
- He stood there, unsure of the emotions raging inside his head.
2Australian /NZ informal Go out and enjoy oneself socially: get ready to rage!...
- After we played a festival there we went and raged at his house.
Origin
Middle English (also in the sense 'madness'): from Old French rage (noun), rager (verb), from a variant of Latin rabies (see rabies).
In medieval times rage could also mean ‘madness’. It goes back ultimately to Latin rabere ‘to rave’, which is also the source of rabies, and early 17th-century rabid of which the early sense was ‘furious, madly violent’ (Dickens Dombey and Son: ‘He was made so rabid by the gout’). The sense ‘affected with rabies’ arose in the early 19th century. Since the late 18th century something that is the subject of a widespread temporary enthusiasm or fashion has been described as the rage or all the rage to mean ‘very popular or fashionable’. In 1811 the poet Lord Byron wrote that he was to hear his fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ‘who is a kind of rage at present’. Bad drivers have always caused annoyance, but with increasing traffic and pace of life some people are now provoked into road rage. The phrase is first recorded in 1988, since when many other kinds of rage have been reported, among them air rage, trolley rage in a supermarket, and even golf rage. Enrage dates from the late 15th century.