Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Violent, explosive anger. synonym: anger.
  • noun A fit of anger.
  • noun Furious intensity, as of a storm or disease.
  • noun A burning desire; a passion.
  • noun A current, eagerly adopted fashion; a fad or craze.
  • intransitive verb To speak or act in violent anger.
  • intransitive verb To move with great violence or intensity.
  • intransitive verb To spread or prevail forcefully.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To be furious with anger; be excited to fury; be violently agitated with passion of any kind.
  • To speak with passionate utterance, or act with furious vehemence; storm; rave.
  • To act violently; move impetuously; be violently driven or agitated; have furious course or effect: said of things: as, a raging fever; the storm rages; war is raging.
  • To frolic wantonly; play; frisk; romp.
  • To be very eager or anxious.
  • To enrage; chafe; fret.
  • noun Madness; insanity; an access of maniacal violence.
  • noun Violent anger manifested in language or action; indignation or resentment excited to fury and expressed in furious words and gestures, with agitation.
  • noun Extreme violence of operation or effect; intensity of degree, force, or urgency: used of things or conditions: as, the rage of a storm or of the sea; the rage of fever or of thirst.
  • noun Vehement emotion; generous ardor or enthusiasm; passionate utterance or eloquence.
  • noun Vehement desire or pursuit; ardent eagerness, as for the attainment or accomplishment of something; engrossing tendency or propensity: as, the rage for speculation, for social distinction, etc.
  • noun An object of general and eager desire or pursuit; fashion; vogue; fad: as, music is now all the rage.
  • noun A violent wind.
  • noun Synonyms Vexation, Indignation, etc. (see anger); frenzy, madness, raving.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Violent excitement; eager passion; extreme vehemence of desire, emotion, or suffering, mastering the will.
  • noun Especially, anger accompanied with raving; overmastering wrath; violent anger; fury.
  • noun obsolete A violent or raging wind.
  • noun The subject of eager desire; that which is sought after, or prosecuted, with unreasonable or excessive passion.
  • transitive verb obsolete To enrage.
  • intransitive verb To be furious with anger; to be exasperated to fury; to be violently agitated with passion.
  • intransitive verb To be violent and tumultuous; to be violently driven or agitated; to act or move furiously.
  • intransitive verb To ravage; to prevail without restraint, or with destruction or fatal effect.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To toy or act wantonly; to sport.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Violent uncontrolled anger.
  • noun A current fashion or fad.
  • verb intransitive To act or speak in heightened anger.
  • verb intransitive To move with great violence, as a storm etc.
  • verb obsolete To enrage.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be violent; as of fires and storms
  • verb feel intense anger
  • noun a state of extreme anger
  • noun a feeling of intense anger
  • verb behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
  • noun an interest followed with exaggerated zeal
  • noun something that is desired intensely
  • noun violent state of the elements

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *rabia, from Latin rabiēs, from rabere, to be mad.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French raige, rage (French: rage), from Medieval Latin rabia, from Latin rabies ("anger fury").

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Examples

  • Every kind of licentious language and actions was practised in the worship of these deities, accompanied with a frantic rage called orgies, from the Greek word for _rage_.

    The Sable Cloud A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861) Nehemiah Adams 1842

  • I would love to know from any French readers whether admin rage is really claiming so many lives.

    More From The Writing Group « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • He started his quest with an Internet search of the word rage and got a smorgasbord of terms: road rage, air rage, retail rage, computer rage, travel and leisure rage.

    Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us Emily Yellin 2009

  • What seems to be fueling this rage is a fear of the loss of authority — a changing of the guard.

    Archive 2009-08-01 2009

  • What seems to be fueling this rage is a fear of the loss of authority — a changing of the guard.

    “Res-pect Mah Authori-taaaaaayyyyh!” 2009

  • You're home life must be really bad when the only outlet you have to vent your rage is a political blog.

    Obama delays Hawaii vacation over Senate vote 2009

  • Finding ways to express themselves and their rage is an endless pursuit.

    A New Stereotype of West Virginia Christians Andrew Beckner 2008

  • I wasn't having a go at you or Daubney, n, my rage is aimed at the sick rabble - some of them very educated rabble too - on some of these forums who will not allow justice to take its course.

    The Best Possible taste Newmania 2008

  • Finding ways to express themselves and their rage is an endless pursuit.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Andrew Beckner 2008

  • Congressman opens hearing on Islamic radicalization, says 'rage and hysteria' unwarranted sns-ap-us-muslims-terror-hearings WASHINGTON AP - Under heightened security, Rep. Peter King opened hearings Thursday into Islamic radicalization in America, dismissing what he called the "rage and hysteria" surrounding the hearings.

    chicagotribune.com - News 2011

  • In 1992, Schmidt was studying the complications of diabetes when she and her team made what she calls a startling discovery: Humans and other mammals have a protein on the surface of fat cells called the receptor for advanced glycation end products, or RAGE, which appeared to play previously unobserved roles in a host of the body’s metabolic and inflammatory responses.

    A Potential Hidden Factor in Why People Have So Much Trouble Losing Weight Amanda Mull 2019

Comments

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  • I love this little word, although it's not my most attractive feature.

    December 17, 2007