rage
Americannoun
-
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)
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Instead of "Said": Vexed Verbiage to Express Anger
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
There’s a righteous feminist rage underneath the scene as well, a modernization that brings “The Odyssey” fiercely and disturbingly up to date.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
That made its giant beast gods feel real too, along with their snarling rage against annihilation.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
But across the border, the conflict unleashed by the 2021 military coup continues to rage.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Horses have been evacuated from an equestrian centre near Paris as the Fontainebleau wildfire continues to rage.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
I can practically feel the rage fuming off him.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
But as the debate over the division of housework rages, many argue that Japanese fans' signature stadium cleanups should be encouraged, not nitpicked at.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Every Emmy season, a battle rages over which network or streamer earns the most nominations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
“Each day the war rages, we see a reckoning slowly approaching.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 24, 2026
Iran coach Marziyeh Jafari said Wednesday her team had "so much concern" about their families at home as war rages with players "fully disconnected" from them during the Women's Asian Cup.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
I look to the fire that still rages, but for the moment is at bay.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The tourism destination is being evacuated as firefighters continue to battle a wildfire that has raged in the Gironde region for days.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Wildfires raged on Wednesday in Sicily, southwestern France and central Spain, having claimed the lives of three firefighters and sparked thousands of evacuations.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Since Disney introduced Lightning Lanes in 2021, debate has raged over whether letting people pay for shorter waits is savvy crowd management or nickel-and-diming that divides people by income.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
The move reopens a fight that has raged for a decade.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
The Spanish flu of 1918 had raged through the continent, killing nearly 20 million men and women worldwide and ranking among the deadliest natural disasters in history.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Within minutes, Milestone School and College, a private institution buzzing with student activity, was transformed into a scene of chaos and raging flames.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Out-of-control wildfires were raging Thursday in the Canadian province of Ontario, sending dangerous smoke spewing into the United States where millions of people were exposed to the unhealthy air.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
Investors have been cheering the raging bull market for years—three years and nine months, to be precise—with the S&P 500 having more than doubled during that period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
The consumer price index sank 0.4% last month to mark the first drop since May 2020, when the coronvirus pandemic was still raging.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
The little trickle of smoke they’d seen a short while ago had turned into a huge, raging wildfire.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
