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• wrath
  wrath

  noun

  strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire.
• Wrath
  Wrath

  noun

  Cape, a high promontory in NW Scotland: most NW point on mainland.

Trivia Time

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which classic literary work does Khan quote to Captain Kirk?

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wrath

¹ American  

[rath, rahth, rawth] / ræθ, rɑθ, rɔθ /

noun

1. strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire.

   Synonyms:

   choler, fury, resentment, rage

2. vengeance or punishment as the consequence of anger.

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adjective

1. Archaic. wroth.

Wrath ² American  

[rath] / ræθ /

noun

1. Cape, a high promontory in NW Scotland: most NW point on mainland.

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wrath ¹ British  

/ rɒθ /

noun

1. angry, violent, or stern indignation

2. divine vengeance or retribution

3. archaic a fit of anger or an act resulting from anger

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adjective

1. obsolete incensed; angry

Wrath ² British  

/ rɔːθ, rɒθ /

noun

1. a promontory at the NW extremity of the Scottish mainland

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Other Word Forms

• wrathless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of wrath

First recorded before 900; (for the noun) Middle English wraththe, Old English wrǣththo, equivalent to wrāth wroth + -tho -th ¹; (for the adjective) variant of wroth by association with the noun

Explanation

Wrath is great anger that expresses itself in a desire to punish someone: Noah saw the flood as a sign of the wrath of God. Wrath is also used figuratively of things that behave in a violent way: Earthquakes are the wrath of the sea. This noun and the corresponding adjective wrathful are in literary use but are formal or old-fashioned words, that crop up in fantasy fiction or movies set in prehistoric times.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wrath Wrath

Of course, as so many 19th-century paintings capture, left out of this telling is that Orestes’ crimes incur the Furies’ wrath.

From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Like Shakespeare’s Iago, enraged by being passed over for promotion, he turned his wrath on his mentor and leader,” the complaint said, about Harris.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

“These things survived the wrath of fire,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

But for one celebrity in China, even a legion of devoted fans was not enough to stave off the wrath of the internet.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

At long last Mr. Dussel's fury was spent, and he left the room with an expression of triumph mixed with wrath, his coat pockets bulging with food.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

We’ve got to throw in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

He had just completed production on Wrath of the Gods, the concluding chapter to the Wicker Man trilogy, which was due to premiere later this month.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

In “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” hundreds of little monkeys invaded the raft where Aguirre is half dead, drifting on the Amazon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026

The 30-mile strenuous and pathless trek across mountainous terrain, rivers and boggy ground is part of the Cape Wrath Trail and is normally completed in three days.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025

“I brought you reading material. The Grapes of Wrath and War and Peace.”

From "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz