adjective
-
full of wrath; raging or furious
-
resulting from or expressing wrath
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of wrathful
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at wrath, -ful
Explanation
If you're wrathful, you're absolutely furious, brimming with anger. Enraged gods of many different religions are often described as wrathful. The wrathful kind of anger is so hardcore that it is often reserved for deities and royalty — a wrathful god might cause a flood, and a wrathful queen might scream, “Off with her head!” You can also use this adjective figuratively for something wild and stormy, like the wrathful lashing of rain on the deck of your sailboat. The Old English root of wrathful means "twisted or tormented."
Vocabulary lists containing wrathful
Mad Infinitum: Synonyms for "Angry"
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To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapters 1–11
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Angry
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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.
Though lifting even the tiniest shield causes Owl to fall backward, and he has “a habit of nodding off during the day,” his chivalry will charm even the most wrathful dragons among us.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2022
The lights turn her into a colossal silhouette, the music becomes unnerving, as she transforms into a wrathful messiah.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2020
While Alonso de Santos is none too convincing when Segismundo turns wrathful or virtuous, the actor does ace moments of pathos, when the prince huddles twitchily in his jail cell, fidgeting with his chains.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 15, 2019
But in stressing the legitimate grievances Goneril and Regan have toward their wrathful, capricious father, the production underplays what Cordelia knows about her sisters’ natures long before they reveal the full extent of their depravity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2019
He’d never seen him angry before, let alone wrathful, and it made him seem bigger somehow, an altogether different and more dangerous species of Strange than the one he had known all these years.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
