furor
AmericanEtymology
Origin of furor
First recorded in 1425–75; from Latin: “a raging”; replacing late Middle English fureor, from Middle French
Explanation
A furor is a strong and sudden reaction, often negative and shared by many people, such as the furor that erupted when Coca-Cola replaced its beloved soft drink with "New Coke" in the 1980s. Like the Latin word furia, which means "passion," a furor involves strong emotion. Not all furors are negative — sometimes a furor is just a fad or a craze that seems to come out of nowhere, like the rubber bracelets every kid in school seemed to start wearing at the exact same second. That bracelet furor? It all started with kids getting excited and saying they just had to have them.
Vocabulary lists containing furor
Hatchet
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Warriors Don't Cry (Abridged)
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Purple Hibiscus
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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.
Furor over the adoption of a Native American preschooler in Texas has reached the U.S.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 16, 2022
With everyone in Manhattan and Washington exhaling, the pundit class then switched gears to play its other favorite game: Media Furor.
From Washington Post • Sep. 7, 2018
Furor over the Fed’s mixed signals has only grown louder, as the decision about rates has gotten more complicated.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2015
With that in mind, commentary has been shifting toward extracting something meaningful: Furor Over Tim Hunt Must Lead to Systemic Change.
From Scientific American • Jun. 20, 2015
The names of the torpedo-boat destroyers were the Furor and the Pluton.
From Young Peoples' History of the War with Spain by Holmes, Prescott
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.
