enrage
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Synonym Usage
Enrage, incense, infuriate imply stirring to violent anger. To enrage or to infuriate is to provoke wrath: They enrage ( infuriate ) him by their deliberate and continual injustice. To incense is to inflame with indignation or anger: to incense a person by making insulting remarks.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of enrage
First recorded in 1490–1500; from Middle French enrager, see en- 1, rage
Explanation
Things that enrage you make you mad. Really mad. People are not typically enraged by annoying things like paper cuts or long lines. They are more likely to become enraged by evil or injustice. Something that enrages you makes you incredibly angry. The news that their favorite teacher has been fired might enrage a group of students, and witnessing someone mistreating an animal might also enrage them. The 14th century verb enrage combines the prefix en-, "make or put in," and rage, with its Latin root rabies, "madness, rage, or fury."
Vocabulary lists containing enrage
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: en-, em-
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The Bad Beginning
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The Sound and the Fury: Synonyms for "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.
There is a phenomenon I have named the "Outrage Enrage Bifurcate".
From Salon • Aug. 11, 2023
Common tides at Cape Chignecto, thirty-six feet; at Cape Enrage, forty feet; at Fort Cumberland, forty-five; and at Bay Verte, from eight to ten feet perpendicular.
From History of New Brunswick by Fisher, Peter
The spring tides at Cape Chignecto, Cape Enrage, and Cumberland bason, are from forty-five to fifty-five feet.
From History of New Brunswick by Fisher, Peter
To console themselves, they went to the Funambules Theatre, to see Debureau act in the Boeuf Enrage, and Balzac laughed so loud that he and his party had to leave the theatre.
From Balzac by Lawton, Frederick
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.
