wrath

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See also: wraþ and wrað

English[edit]

WOTD – 20 December 2023

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

The noun is derived from Middle English wraththe, wreththe (“anger, fury, rage; animosity, hostility; deadly sin of wrath; distress, vexation; punishment; retribution (?)”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English wrǣþþu (“ire, wrath”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *wraiþiþu (“anger, fury, wrath”), from *wraiþ (“angry, furious, wroth; hostile, violent; bent, twisted”) (from Proto-Germanic *wraiþaz (“angry, furious, wroth; hostile, violent; bent, twisted”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”)) + *-iþu (suffix forming abstract nouns).[2] Effectively analysable as wroth +‎ -th.

The verb is derived from Middle English wratthen (“to be or become angry, to rage; to quarrel; to cause wrath, offend; to become troubled or vexed; to cause grief or harm, grieve, vex”) [and other forms],[3] from wraththe, wreththe (noun) (see above)[4] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).[5]

cognates

Noun[edit]

wrath (usually uncountable, plural wraths)

  1. (uncountable, formal) Great anger; (countable) an instance of this.
    Synonyms: fury, ire; see also Thesaurus:anger
    Homer relates an episode in the Trojan War that reveals the tragic consequences of the wrath of Achilles.
  2. (uncountable) Punishment, retribution, or vengeance resulting from anger; (countable) an instance of this.
    the wrath of God
  3. (uncountable, obsolete) Great ardour or passion.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 194, column 2:
      [T]hey are in the verie vvrath of loue, and they vvill together. Clubbes cannot part them.
    • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 269, column 1:
      [I]f you hold your life at any price, betake you to your gard: for your oppoſite hath in him vvhat youth, ſtrength, skill, and vvrath, can furniſh man vvithall.
Usage notes[edit]
  • The pronunciation with the vowel /æ/ is regarded as incorrect by many British English speakers.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive)
    1. To anger (someone); to enrage.
      • [1506?], Jacobus van Gruitroede, translated by [Margaret Beaufort], The Mirroure of Golde for the Synfull Soule‎[1], London: […] Richarde Pynson, →OCLC, folio 12, verso:
        [R]emembre howe by thy cursed synnes thou haste offended and wrathed thy lorde god.
      • 1510 September 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Andrew Chertsey], transl., Ihesus. The Floure of the Commaundements of God […]‎[2], London: […] Wynkyn de Worde, →OCLC, folio 60, recto:
        Of ire yͤ whiche is agayne god. […] A man wratheth hym ayenst god for many thynges, pryncypally for the flagellacions, aduersytees, fortunes, sykenesses, & mortalytees, losses, punycyons, famyne, warre & yll tyme.
      • 1520, Saynt Peter of Lucẽbourth [i.e., Pierre de Luxembourg], anonymous translator, The Boke Entytuled the Next Way to Heuen […]‎[3], London: […] Wynkyn de Worde, →OCLC, folio [4], recto:
        And than the byſſhop ſayd vnto the clerke⸝ thou haſt wrathed me⸝ but yf thou wylte be ſory thou ſhalte haue my loue as thou haddeſt before⸝ & I ſhall gyue the [i.e., thee] the benefyce yͭ I haue promyſed to gyue the⸝ ſholde not he be anone ſory of that I byleue that yes.
    2. To become angry with (someone).
  2. (intransitive) To become angry.
    • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 267:
      "Nay, wrath thee not, Will," said Ganlesse; "and speak no words in haste, lest you may have cause to repent at leisure. […]"
    • 1860, E[dward] B[ouverie] Pusey, “Nahum”, in The Minor Prophets with a Commentary Explanatory and Practical and Introductions to the Several Books (The Holy Bible with a Commentary […]), Oxford, Oxfordshire: J. H. & J. Parker, […], →OCLC, page 374, column 2:
      God is a righteous judge, strong and patient, and God wratheth every day.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of wrath
infinitive (to) wrath
present tense past tense
1st-person singular wrath wrathed
2nd-person singular wrath, wrathest† wrathed, wrathedst†
3rd-person singular wraths, wratheth† wrathed
plural wrath
subjunctive wrath wrathed
imperative wrath —
participles wrathing wrathed

†Archaic or obsolete.

Etymology 2[edit]

A variant of wroth, probably influenced by wrath (noun) (see etymology 1).[6]

Adjective[edit]

wrath (comparative more wrath, superlative most wrath)

  1. (archaic or obsolete) Synonym of wroth (“full of anger; wrathful”)
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature B3, recto:
      Take heede the Queene come not vvithin his ſight, / For Oberon is paſſing fell and vvrath: / Becauſe that ſhe, as her attendant, hath / A louely boy ſtollen, from an Indian king: / She neuer had ſo ſvveete a changeling.
      Pronounced to rhyme with hath.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 43, page 120:
      VVhereat the Prince full vvrath, his ſtrong right hand / In full auengement heaued vp on hie, / And ſtroke the Pagan vvith his ſteely brand / So ſore, that to his ſaddle bovv thereby / He bovved lovv, and ſo a vvhile did lie: […]
    • 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Genesis 40:2–3, pages 122–123:
      And Pharao being a vvrath againſt them (for the one vvas chiefe of the cupbearers, the other chiefe baker) he ſent them into the priſon of the captaine of the ſouldiers, in the vvhich Ioſeph alſo vvas priſoner.
    • 1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 9:
      Th' old Dragon underground / In ſtraiter limits bound, / Not half ſo far caſts his uſurped ſvvay, / And vvrath to ſee his Kingdom fail, / Svvindges the ſcaly Horrour of his foulded tail.
    • 1860 January–June, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “A Black Sheep”, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, →OCLC, page 165:
      Lovel, seldom angry, was violently wrath with his brother-in-law; and, almost always polite, was at breakfast scarcely civil to Lady Baker.
    • 1861 September 28 – 1862 March 8, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XXXI, in A Strange Story. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 229:
      I felt wrath with her. My heart so cherished my harmless, defenceless Lilian, that I was jealous of the praise taken from her to be bestowed on another.
Translations[edit]
synonym of wroth — see wroth,‎ wrathful

References[edit]

  1. ^ “wratthe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “wrath, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “wrath, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “wratthen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “wrath, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  5. ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  6. ^ “wrath, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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