rage
Americannoun
-
rages
plural
-
angry fury; violent anger (sometimes used in combination).
a speech full of rage;
incidents of road rage.
- Antonyms:
- calm
-
a fit of violent anger.
Her rages usually don't last too long.
-
fury or violence of wind, waves, fire, disease, etc.
- Synonyms:
- turbulence
-
violence of feeling, desire, or appetite.
the rage of thirst.
-
a violent desire or passion.
-
ardor; fervor; enthusiasm.
poetic rage.
-
the object of widespread enthusiasm, as for being popular or fashionable.
Raccoon coats were the rage on campus.
-
Archaic. insanity.
verb (used without object)
-
rages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
raged,
past participle, past
-
raging
present participle
-
to act or speak with fury; show or feel violent anger; fulminate.
-
to move, rush, dash, or surge furiously.
-
to proceed, continue, or prevail with great violence.
The battle raged ten days.
-
(of feelings, opinions, etc.) to hold sway with unabated violence.
idioms
noun
-
intense anger; fury
-
violent movement or action, esp of the sea, wind, etc
-
great intensity of hunger, sexual desire, or other feelings
-
aggressive behaviour associated with a specified environment or activity
road rage
school rage
-
a fashion or craze (esp in the phrase all the rage )
-
informal a dance or party
verb
-
to feel or exhibit intense anger
-
(esp of storms, fires, etc) to move or surge with great violence
-
(esp of a disease or epidemic) to spread rapidly and uncontrollably
-
informal to have a good time
Synonym Usage
See anger.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ragesimple
-
ragessimple
-
have ragedperfect
-
has ragedperfect
-
am ragingprogressive
-
are ragingprogressive
-
is ragingprogressive
-
have been ragingperfect progressive
-
has been ragingperfect progressive
Past
-
ragedsimple
-
had ragedperfect
-
was ragingprogressive
-
were ragingprogressive
-
had been ragingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rage
First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the noun) Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin rabia, Latin rabiēs “madness” ( see rabies ( def. )), derivative of rabere “to be mad, rave”; verb derivative of the noun
Explanation
Rage is a really intense anger. Some frustrated drivers let their emotions boil over into road rage when another car cuts them off, for example. If you're full of rage, you're full of anger — powerful, extreme, sometimes even violent anger. Rage can also be a verb: you might rage against something you hate or as the poet Dylan Thomas pleaded, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Things that rage are out of control, like a raging, roaring fire or a wild storm. Another meaning involves the latest, greatest trend — you'd say it's "all the rage."
Vocabulary lists containing rage
Emotions on Display
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Instead of "Said": Vexed Verbiage to Express Anger
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Firefighters across Europe have been facing intense pressure and a strain on resources as serious wildfires continue to rage across the continent, fuelled by extreme heatwaves.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
While a link between the lateral septum and another region called the hypothalamus is probably responsible for septal rage, the lateral septum links with many other regions with various functions.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
I was like, “It‘s difficult to show this character’s rage when it would be super inappropriate to express it with every single person in this room.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The video itself has been roundly seen as damaging to Miller, who comes across as bullying and condescending, and whose rage at the situation seems to be boiling just below the surface.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
“Another one I owe you, monster,” Rapunzel said, her eyes burning with rage and tears.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Every Emmy season, a battle rages over which network or streamer earns the most nominations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
A copy of the Daily Mail dated 12 June 1944 - days after D-Day - reports that "battle rages around empty Caen" and "trap closing on Nazis".
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
“Each day the war rages, we see a reckoning slowly approaching.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 24, 2026
Grabow believes the measure will bolster US supply chains, but warned that effects on prices could be limited if the war rages on.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
“What does he even want?” she suddenly rages.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
But the family was wealthy, so even as China’s war with Japan and its later civil war raged around him, Zhu got an education.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Papin and the children were now stuck in Biscarrosse, just as one of the worst fires in recent French history raged near them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Wildfires have raged across Europe over the past week, primarily in France and Spain, where more than 330,000 people have been evacuated across both countries.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from the tourism destination west of Bordeaux, as firefighters continue to battle wildfires that have raged in the Gironde region for days.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
More than one million men fought in what history calls the First Battle of the Marne, which raged for eight blood-soaked days in September.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
However, with devastating fires still raging in some areas of Spain where the eclipse will be visible, the 51-year-old TV researcher may cancel her plans to travel from Sydney, Australia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Antidumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber stem from a trade dispute that has been raging for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Raging against the second half of your life, raging against how the world’s perceiving you, and how the world looks at you at a certain age.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
But there are at least 14 other fires raging throughout the state.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
“Here comes our boat. We can ride that barrel down to the motel. Like you guys did with that raft in the raging river episode.”
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
