rage - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Anglo-Norman ragebor.

Middle English rage

English rage

From Middle English rage, from Anglo-Norman rage, from Late Latin rabia, from Classical Latin rabiēs (“anger, fury”). Doublet of rabies.

Displaced native Middle English wode, from Old English wōd ("madness, fury, rage"; compare Modern dialectal English wood (“mad, insane, furious, raging”)); and Middle English hotherte (“anger”), from Old English hātheort (“fury, anger, wrath, rage”).

rage (countable and uncountable, plural rages)

  1. Violent uncontrolled anger.
    • 1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 39:
      Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
    • 1963, Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, →ISBN, page 101:
      […] rage is not only impotent by definition, it is the mode in which impotence becomes active in its last stage of final despair.
  2. A current fashion or fad.
    • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series:
      But the rage of travelling is a symptom of a deeper unsoundness affecting the whole intellectual action.
    • 1864, Samuel Greatheed, Daniel Parken, Theophilus Williams, The Eclectic Review (volume 7? volume 120? page 130)
      This rage for boulevardizing has destroyed the quaint, queer, pestilential streets of old Paris, through which it was our pleasure to wander many years since.
    • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 82:
      Here and there were certain unmistakable derniers cris, some of them undoubtedly destined - had the world pursued its expected course - to become the rage of tomorrow; others, I would say, a dead loss from their very inception.
    • 1964, Philip K. Dick, “TWELVE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollins_Publishers_, 1996, →ISBN, page 173:
      ‘She has big breasts’, Chuck said. ‘Who? Patty? Oh yes.’ Hentman nodded. ‘Well, it’s that operation they give in Hollywood and New York. It’s more the rage now than the dilation, and she’s had that done, too.’
  3. (slang, US, Australia, New Zealand) An exciting and boisterous party.
    • 2013, Larry M. Edwards, Dare I Call It Murder?: A Memoir of Violent Loss, San Diego, C.A.: Wigeon Publishing, →ISBN, page 95:
      That evening, Felix and Trish Homer invited me to the Sundancer for "a bit of a rage."
      Synonym: rager
  4. (music) A subgenre of trap music originating in the United States in the 2020s, characterized by 808s and aggressive, distorted synths.
    • 2021 December 24, Vivian Medithi, “Playboi Carti 'Whole Lotta Red' Is The Sound Of 2021 Whether You Like It Or Not”, in HipHopDX‎[1], archived from the original on 25 December 2021:
      Tripp At Knight feels like a Carti homage, but while it certainly gestures towards the rage sound, Trippie’s imitation of Carti is largely rooted in 2019 rather than 2021.
    • 2023 February 3, Elias Leight, “These Rising Rappers Are Pushing Rage Music Into the Mainstream”, in Billboard‎[2], archived from the original on 19 March 2025:
      The list of rappers affiliated with rage has exploded in the subsequent 18 months, and several seem poised to break out in 2023.
    • 2025 February 18, Jeff Ihaza, “Meet OsamaSon, an Architect for the Next Generation of Rap Music”, in Rolling Stone‎[3], archived from the original on 3 April 2025:
      OK produced the bulk of Jump Out, and the pair succeeded in crafting a sound that, while sonically linked to the forbearers of the underground — maximalist drums in the spirit of so-called “rage” rap along with melodic flourishes of early Playboi Carti — the Charlotte, North Carolina born producer manages to tread new terrain, constructing a sonic identity that feels deliriously right now.
  5. (obsolete) Any vehement passion.

a violent anger

a current fashion or fad

From Middle English ragen, from Old French rager, ragier, from the noun (see above).

Displaced native Middle English weden (“to rage with anger”), from Old English wēdan (“to rage”), and Old English iersian, among other synonyms.

rage (third-person singular simple present rages, present participle raging, simple past and past participle raged)

  1. (intransitive) To act or speak in heightened anger.
  2. (sometimes figurative) To move with great violence, as a storm etc.
    Synonym: rave
    • 1674, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 152:
      Horrible diſcord, and the madding Wheeles / Of brazen Chariots rag'd; dire was the noiſe / Of conflict; over head the diſmal hiſs / Of fiery Darts in flaming volies flew, / And flying vaulted either Hoſt with fire.
    • 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
      The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. […] Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume.
    • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC, page 11:
      The two women murmured over the spirit-lamp, plotting the eternal conspiracy of hush and clean bottles while the wind raged and gave a sudden wrench at the cheap fastenings.
    • 2014 June 24, Samuel Gibbs, “Google Glass go on sale in the UK for £1,000”, in The Guardian‎[6], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 October 2022:
      Debate has raged over whether Glass and smartglasses like it have any viable real-world use cases for consumers, or are more interesting to businesses where workers need hands-free access to information.
    • 2016 January 25, Marina Koren, “The East Coast Digs Out”, in The Atlantic‎[7], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 July 2021:
      As the storm raged, more than 85 million people—or more than one in every four Americans—were covered by some kind of blizzard or winter-storm advisory on Friday, according to weather.com.
  3. (slang, US, Australia, New Zealand) To party hard; to have a good time.
  4. (obsolete, rare) To enrage.

act in an angry manner

move with great violence

From Old Norse raka, from Proto-Germanic *rakōną, cognate with Swedish raka, English rake. Related to *rekaną (“to pile”) and *rakjaną (“to stretch”).

rage (past tense ragede, past participle raget)

  1. to scrape
  2. (dated) to shave
    Synonym: barbere

From Middle Low German rāken (“to hit, reach”), from Proto-West Germanic *rakōn. Probably related to the previous verb.

rage (past tense ragede, past participle raget)

  1. (transitive, usually negated) to concern, to be of (someone's) business
  2. (transitive) to not concern, to not be any of (someone's) business
    • 1967, Christian Kampmann, Sammen, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN:
    • 2007, Jonas T. Bengtsson, Submarino, Art People, →ISBN:

From German ragen (“to jut, stick out”), from Proto-West Germanic *hragōn, cognate with Old English oferhragan.

rage (past tense ragede, past participle raget)

  1. to jut, stick out, stand out

Borrowed from Middle French rage, from Old French rage, from Late Latin rabia.

rage f or m (plural rages, no diminutive)

  1. craze, fad, fashion

Borrowed from English rage.

rage (comparative ragempi, superlative ragein)

  1. (colloquial) irritable, prone to anger

rage

  1. (colloquial) anger, rage

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *rādica.

rage f (plural rages) (ORB, broad)

  1. root
    Synonym: racena

Further information

[edit]

Inherited from Middle French rage, from Old French rage, from Late Latin rabia, from Classical Latin rabiēs.

rage f (plural rages)

  1. rage (fury, anger)
    • 1813, Les Attraits de la Morale, Ou la Vertu Parée de Tous Ses Charmes, et l'Art de rendre Heureux ceux qui nous entourent, page 179:
      “ […] , disoit St. Chrysostôme, […] Un homme en colère se punit le premier, en s'élevant et combattant contre lui-même, et s'enflammant de rage.”
      " […] , Saint Chrysostom says, […] An angered man punishes himself in the first place, rising and fighting against himself, and catching fire from rage."
  2. rabies (disease)
    • 1935, Revista da produção animal, Instituto de Biologia Animal, page 47:
      Les chauves-souris Desmodus Rotundus infectéés naturellement transmettent la rage aux animaux.
      The naturally infected bats Desmodus rotundus transmit rabies to animals.

rage

  1. inflection of ragen:
    1. first-person singular present
    2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
    3. singular imperative

Inherited from Old French rage, raige, from Late Latin rabia, from Classical Latin rabiēs.

rage f (plural rages)

  1. rage; ire; fury
  2. rabies (disease)

Inherited from Old French rage, from Late Latin rabia, from Classical Latin rabiēs (“anger, fury”).

rage f (plural rages)

  1. (Jersey) rabies

From Late Latin rabia, from Classical Latin rabiēs.

rage oblique singular, f (oblique plural rages, nominative singular **rage, nominative plural rages)

  1. rage; ire; fury

Inherited from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin ragĕre. Compare French raire, réer; cf. also French railler, Italian ragliare.

a rage (third-person singular present **rage, past participle not used, third-person subjunctive ragă) 3rd conjugation

  1. (of beasts) to roar
  2. (of donkeys) to bray
  3. (of people, figurative) to roar