Definition
nounA strong and unpleasant feeling of displeasure, hostility, or antagonism, usually combined with an urge to yell, curse, damage or destroy things, or harm living beings, often stemming from perceived provocation, hurt, threat, insults, unfair or unjust treatment, or an undesired situation.
Sentence Examples
You have no cause for anger.
We were filled with anger against the murderer.
She had to find a way to express her pent-up anger.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English anger (“grief, pain, trouble, affliction, vexation, sorrow, wrath”), from Old Norse angr, ǫngr (“affliction, sorrow”) (compare Old Norse ang, ǫng (“troubled”)), from Proto-Germanic *angazaz (“grief, sorrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- (“narrow, tied together”).
Cognate with Danish anger (“regret, remorse”), Norwegian Bokmål anger (“regret, remorse”), Swedish ånger (“regret”), Icelandic angur (“trouble”), Old English ange, enge (“narrow, close, straitened, constrained, confined, vexed, troubled, sorrowful, anxious, oppressive, severe, painful, cruel”), German Angst (“anxiety, anguish, fear”), Latin angō (“squeeze, choke, vex”), angor (“strangulation; anguish, torment”) (whence the English doublet angor), Albanian ang (“fear, anxiety, pain, nightmare”), Avestan 𐬄𐬰𐬀𐬵 (ązah, “strangulation; distress”), Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to squeeze, strangle”), Sanskrit अंहस् (aṃhas), अंहु (aṃhu, “anxiety, distress, affliction”, literally “narrowness”). Also compare with English anguish, anxious, quinsy, and perhaps to awe and ugly. The word seems to have originally meant “to choke, squeeze”.
The verb is from Middle English angren, angeren, from Old Norse angra. Compare with Icelandic angra, Norwegian Nynorsk angra, Norwegian Bokmål angre, Swedish ångra, Danish angre.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures."
— 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
"It heals the Wounds that Sin hath made; and takes away the Anger of the Sore; […]"
— 1660, Simon Patrick, Mensa mystica, published 1717, page 322:
"I immediately made the Experiment, ſetting the Moxa where the firſt Violence of my Pain began, which was the Joint of the great Toe, and where the greateſt Anger and Soreneſs ſtill continued, [...]"
— 1679, William Temple, “An Essay upon the Cure of Gout by Moxa. […]”, in Miscellanea. […], London: […] A. M. and R. R. for Edw[ard] Gellibrand, […], →OCLC, page 209:
"“Poetling, fret thyself not! / I will not one tittle imperil / Thy sorry cockboat; / Nor yet thy poor dear life will I harass / With over-hazardous tossings. / For thou, little poet, ne’er angeredst me; / Thou hast me no least little pinnacle harmed / Of Priamus’ sacrosanct stronghold; / Nor even the least little lash hast thou singed / Of the eye of my son Polyphemus; / And thee with her counsels protected hath ne’er / The Goddess of Wisdom, Pallas Athené.”"
— 1911, Heinrich Heine, translated by John Payne, The Poetical Works of Heinrich Heine: Now First Completely Rendered into English Verse, in Accordance with the Original Forms, volume one, Villon Society, page 176:
"President Donald Trump’s offer to most federal employees to resign now and be paid through September stunned the workers who received it – angering some, confusing many and raising questions about whether the offer is even legal."
— 2025 February 1, Tami Luhby, Eric Bradner and Rene Marsh, “Federal employees confused, angered by Trump’s offer to quit”, in CNN: