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, 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, 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) (krōdhaṁ)
• 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 (fa) (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, furia (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, Early Modern) To anger; to enrage.
   • 1506, Jacobus van Gruitrode, anonymous translator, The mirroure of golde for the synfull soule‎^[1], folio 12^v:

     […] butte remembre howe by thy cursed synnes thou haste offended and wrathed thy lorde god.

   • 1510, Ihesus. The floure of the commaundements of god […]‎^[2], folio 60^r:

     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, Pierre de Luxembourg (attributed), anonymous translator, The boke entytuled the next way to heuen […]‎^[3], folio 4^r:

     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 the benefyce yͭ I haue promysed to gyue the, sholde not he be anone sory of that I byleue that yes.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Warth, warth