wrath

wrath

See also: wraþ and wrað

English

Etymology

From Middle English wraththe, wreththe, from Old English wrǣþþu (“wrath, fury”), from Proto-West Germanic *wraiþiþu (“wrath, fury”), equivalent to wroth +‎ -th. Compare Dutch wreedte (“cruelty”), Danish vrede (“anger”), Swedish vrede (“wrath, anger, ire”), Icelandic reiði (“anger”). More at wroth.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɒθ/, /ɹɔːθ/
  • Rhymes: -ɒθ, -ɔːθ
  • Homophone: wroth (some speakers)
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹæθ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -æθ
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɹæθ/, /ɹɔθ/

Noun

wrath (usually uncountable, plural wraths)

1. (formal or old-fashioned) Great anger.

   Synonyms: fury, ire

   Homer relates an episode in the Trojan War that reveals the tragic consequences of the wrath of Achilles.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415, book I, page 17:

     For when he knew his Rival freed and gone, / He ſwells with Wrath; he makes outrageous Moan: / He frets, he fumes, he ſtares, he ſtamps the Ground; / The hollow Tow'r with Clamours rings around: […]

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:

     The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?

2. (rare) Punishment.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Romans 13:4:

     A revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Usage notes

• The pronunciation with the vowel /æ/ is regarded as incorrect by many British English speakers.

Derived terms

• grapes of wrath
• wrathful

Related terms

• wroth

Translations

great anger

Albanian: druth m, mëri (sq) f Arabic: غَضَب‎ m (ḡaḍab), سَخَط‎ m (saḵaṭ), قَهْر‎ m (qahr), غَيْظ‎‎ m (ḡayẓ) Armenian: բարկություն (hy) (barkutʿyun), զայրույթ (hy) (zayruytʿ) Azerbaijani: qəzəb (az), qəhr, qeyz, hiddət (az), hirs (az) Bashkir: асыу (asıw) Belarusian: гнеў (be) m (hnjeŭ), злосць f (zloscʹ) Bulgarian: гняв (bg) m (gnjav) Burmese: ပဋိဃာတ် (my) (pa.ti.ghat), အမျက် (my) (a.myak) Chinese: Mandarin: 憤怒／愤怒 (zh) (fènnù) Czech: hněv (cs) m, zloba f, zlost f Danish: vrede (da) c Dutch: gramschap (nl) f, woede (nl) f, toorn (nl) m Estonian: viha (et), raev Finnish: viha (fi), raivo (fi) French: fureur (fr) f, courroux (fr) m, ire (fr) f, colère (fr) f Galician: ira f Georgian: რისხვა (risxva), მძვინვარება (mʒvinvareba), გაშმაგება (gašmageba), გაცოფება (gacopeba), მრისხანება (mrisxaneba) German: Zorn (de) m, Wut (de) f, Ärger (de) m, Ingrimm (de) m (dated) Greek: οργή (el) f (orgí), θυμός (el) m (thymós) Ancient: θυμός m (thumós), μηνιθμός m (mēnithmós) (Epic) Hebrew: זַעַם‎ (he) m (zá'am), כַּעַס‎ (he) m (ká'as) Hindi: क्रोध (hi) m (krodh), ग़ुस्सा m (ġussā), रोष m (roṣ), ग़ज़ब m (ġazab), क़हर m (qahar), तैश (hi) m (taiś) Hungarian: düh (hu), harag (hu) Icelandic: reiði (is) f, heift (is) f Ido: iraco (io) Indonesian: murka (id) Italian: furore (it) m, collera (it) f, ira (it) f Japanese: 激怒 (ja) (げきど, gekido), 憤怒 (ja) (ふんぬ, funnu) Kazakh: қаһар (qahar), ашу (kk) (aşu), ыза (yza) Khmer: កំហឹង (km) (kɑmhəng) Korean: 성 (ko) (seong), 분노(憤怒) (ko) (bunno), 격노(激怒) (ko) (gyeongno) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: xezeb (ku) f, gerûşe (ku) f, hêrs (ku) f, xişm (ku) f, kerb (ku) f, kîn (ku) f, qîn (ku) f Kyrgyz: каар (ky) (kaar), ачуу (ky) (açuu) Ladin: sënn m Latin: īra (la) Latvian: dusmas f pl, ļaunprātība f, bargums m Lithuanian: rūstybė f, pyktis (lt) m, rūstis m Macedonian: гнев m (gnev), бес m (bes) Malay: kemarahan (ms), kemurkaan Malayalam: ക്രോധം (ml) (krōdhaṃ) Maori: ngana, nguha Mirandese: rábia f Mongolian: Cyrillic: уур (mn) (uur), уур хилэн (uur xilen) Mongolian: ᠠᠭᠤᠷ (aɣur) Ngazidja Comorian: utungu class 11/10a Norwegian: Bokmål: vrede (no) m, sinne (no) n Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: гнѣвъ m (gněvŭ) Old East Slavic: гнѣвъ m (gněvŭ) Old English: wracu f Old Norse: vreiði f, reiði f Pashto: غضب‎ (ps) m (ǧazab), خشم‎ (ps) m (xašm), قهر‎ (ps) m (qahr), غيظ‎ m (ǧayz) Persian: وروت‎ (fa) (vorut), غضب‎‎ (ğazab), خشم‎ (fa) (xašm), قهر‎ (fa) (qahr), غیظ‎ (fa) (ğeyz), طیش‎ (fa) (teyš) Polish: gniew (pl) m, złość (pl) f Portuguese: cólera (pt) f, ira (pt) f Romanian: mânie (ro) f, furie (ro) f, urgie (ro) f Russian: гнев (ru) m (gnev), зло́ба (ru) f (zlóba), я́рость (ru) f (járostʹ) (fury), злость (ru) f (zlostʹ) Sanskrit: क्रोध (sa) m (krodha), रोष (sa) m (roṣa) Scottish Gaelic: corraich f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: гне̑в m, гње̑в m, ср̀џба f, ср̀дито̄ст f Latin: gnȇv (sh) m, gnjȇv (sh) m, sr̀džba (sh) f, sr̀ditōst (sh) f Sicilian: currivu (scn) m, raggia (scn) f, còliri (scn) f pl Slovak: hnev m, zlosť f Slovene: gnev m, bes (sl) m Spanish: cólera (es) f, ira (es) f Swahili: ghadhabu (sw) Swedish: vrede (sv) c Tajik: ғазаб (ġazab), хашм (xašm), қаҳр (qahr), ғайз (ġayz) Tatar: каһәр (tt) (qahär), ачу (tt) (açu) Thai: โทสะ (too-sà), ความโกรธเคือง (kwaam-gròot-kʉʉang), วิโรธ (wí-rôot), ความโกรธ (th) (kwaam-gròot) Turkish: gazap (tr), hiddet (tr) Ukrainian: гнів m (hniv), злість f (zlistʹ) Urdu: غَضَب‎ m (ġazab), خَشْم‎ (xaśm), قَہْر‎ m (qahr), غَیظ‎ (ġaiz), طَیش‎ m (taiś) Uyghur: غەزەپ‎ (ug) (ghezep), نەپرەت‎ (nepret), قەھر‎ (qehr) Uzbek: gʻazab (uz), nafrat (uz), qahr (uz) Vietnamese: thịnh nộ (vi), cơn tức giận (vi) Welsh: dig (cy) m, llid (cy) m, llidiau m pl West Frisian: grime c Yiddish: צאָרן‎ m (tsorn)

punishment as a revenge

Bulgarian: възме́здие (bg) n (vǎzmézdie) French: courroux (fr) m German: Vergeltung (de) f Latvian: atriebība f Lithuanian: kerštas m Romanian: răzbunare (ro) f Russian: возме́здие (ru) n (vozmézdije) Sicilian: stuzzi f pl Spanish: castigo (es) m

Adjective

wrath (comparative more wrath, superlative most wrath)

1. Wrathful; wroth; very angry.

Verb

wrath (third-person singular simple present wraths, present participle wrathing, simple past and past participle wrathed)

1. (obsolete) To anger; to enrage.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

Further reading

• “wrath” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for wrath in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Anagrams

• Warth, warth