umbrage
Americannoun
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offense; annoyance; displeasure.
to feel umbrage at a social snub; to give umbrage to someone; to take umbrage at someone's rudeness.
- Synonyms:
- resentment, grudge, pic
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the slightest indication or vaguest feeling of suspicion, doubt, hostility, or the like.
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leaves that afford shade, as the foliage of trees.
-
shade or shadows, as cast by trees.
-
a shadowy appearance or semblance of something.
noun
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displeasure or resentment; offence (in the phrase give or take umbrage )
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the foliage of trees, considered as providing shade
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rare shadow or shade
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archaic a shadow or semblance
Etymology
Origin of umbrage
Explanation
When someone takes umbrage at something, they find it offensive, and it probably makes them angry. Umbrage comes from the same source as umbrella, the Latin umbra, "shade, shadow." The umbrella was invented to keep you in shade, and when you take umbrage at something, you're casting a shadow over the person or thing responsible for the offense. I take umbrage at the suggestion that I'm not a nice person: it's offensive and infuriating. After having devoted my life to helping animals, I might take umbrage at the notion that I've been doing it for publicity purposes: I resent the idea that it was for any other reason than my love of animals.
Vocabulary lists containing umbrage
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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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.
Umbrage has increased as the average salary has risen to about the $4 million mark, when an injury can have huge financial implications.
From Washington Times • Oct. 31, 2015
Forgive me, but I’m not prepared to join this walk down Great Umbrage Street just yet.
From Washington Post • Aug. 15, 2012
This Whining And Umbrage About Facebook's IPO Is Ridiculous Henry Blodget explains why the people saying the Facebook IPO was a flop are a bunch of crybabies.
From New York Times • May 20, 2012
The cause of death: Rosengate, the latest and least explicable battle in the Umbrage Wars.
From Slate • Apr. 12, 2012
Her Brother, a wrong-headed Man, takes Umbrage at Stradella's frequent Visits there, and forbids him going upon his Peril, which Order Stradella obeys.
From Observations on the Florid Song or Sentiments on the Ancient and Modern Singers by Galliard, John Ernest
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.
