fury
[fyoo r-ee]
- unrestrained or violent anger, rage, passion, or the like: The gods unleashed their fury on the offending mortal.
- violence; vehemence; fierceness: the fury of a hurricane; a fury of creative energy.
- Furies, Classical Mythology. minor female divinities: the daughters of Gaea who punished crimes at the instigation of the victims: known to the Greeks as the Erinyes or Eumenides and to the Romans as the Furiae or Dirae. Originally there were an indefinite number, but were later restricted to Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.
- a fierce and violent person, especially a woman: She became a fury when she felt she was unjustly accused.
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- like fury, Informal. violently; intensely: It rained like fury.
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Origin of fury
Synonyms
See more synonyms for fury on Thesaurus.com1. ire, wrath. 2. turbulence.
Synonym study
1. See anger.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for furies
Contemporary Examples
But it turns out The Furies of Maidan is not a figment of his imagination.
Like the Furies, the Cheneys stand for unreason and emotionalism.
Historical Examples
Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple soul, content with simple things.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
I can think of many parts I should prefer playing to that of the Furies.
Essays, Second SeriesRalph Waldo Emerson
He looked as if he had known all the degradations and all the furies.
The Nigger Of The "Narcissus"Joseph Conrad
The Fates and the Furies exchanged glances of astonishment and horror.
The Infernal MarriageBenjamin Disraeli
The furies were so dreaded that few dared so much as to name them.
Roman Antiquities, and Ancient MythologyCharles K. Dillaway
Furies
- classical myth the snake-haired goddesses of vengeance, usually three in number, who pursued unpunished criminalsAlso called: Erinyes, Eumenides
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fury
- violent or uncontrolled anger; wild rage
- an outburst of such anger
- uncontrolled violencethe fury of the storm
- a person, esp a woman, with a violent temper
- See Furies
- like fury informal violently; furiouslythey rode like fury
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin furia rage, from furere to be furious
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for furies
fury
n.
late 14c., "fierce passion," from Old French furie (14c.), from Latin furia "violent passion, rage, madness," related to furere "to rage, be mad." Romans used Furiæ to translate Greek Erinyes, the collective name for the avenging deities sent from Tartarus to punish criminals (in later accounts three in number and female). Hence, figuratively, "an angry woman" (late 14c.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Furies
In classical mythology, hideous female monsters who relentlessly pursued evildoers.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with furies
fury
see hell has no fury like a woman scorned.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.