wrath
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɒθ/
ipa: /ɹɔːθ/
ipa: /ɹɑːθ/
ipa: /ɹæθ/
ipa: /ɹæθ/
ipa: /ɹɔθ/
homophone: wroth
homophone: Roth (some speakers)
rhymes: -ɒθ
rhymes: -ɔːθ
rhymes: -æθ
Forms: form: wraths
Etymology: 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], 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). Effectively analysable as wroth + -th (abstract nominal suffix).
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], from wraththe, wreththe (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).
Cognates
* Danish vrede (“anger, wrath”)
* Dutch wreedte (“cruelty”)
* Icelandic reiði (“anger”)
* Swedish vrede (“anger, ire, wrath”)
Senses: examples: text: Homer relates an episode in the Trojan War that reveals the tragic consequences of the wrath of Achilles.
text: Let all bitternes, fearſnes and wrath, rorynge and curſyd ſpeakynge, be put awaye from you, with all maliciouſnes.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Ephesians iiij:[31], folios cclvij, recto – cclvij, verso:
text: Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath waſted,
 Art made a myrrhour, to behold my plight: […]
ref: 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarye. Ægloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 1, verso:
text: I tel you true my hart is ſwolne with wrath,
 On this ſame theeuiſh villain Tamburlain.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii, signature B2, verso:
text: [H]im ſo far had borne his light-foot ſteede,
 Pricked vvith vvrath and fiery fierce diſdaine,
 That him to follovv vvas but fruitleſſe paine; […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 8, page 21:
text: VVho (in my vvrath)
 Kneel'd and^([sic – meaning at]) my feet, and bid me be aduis'd?
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 183, column 1:
text: Lingring perdition (vvorſe then any death
 Can be at once) ſhall ſtep, by ſtep attend
 You, and your vvayes, vvhoſe vvraths, to guard you from,
 VVhich here, in this moſt deſolate Iſle, elſe fals
 Vpon your heads, is nothing but hearts-ſorrovv,
 And a cleere life enſuing.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 13, column 2:
text: [S]tern briſtles hedg'd up high
 His back, vvhich did all vvrath of thorns defie.
ref: 1648, Joseph Beaumont, “Canto II. Lust Conquered. Stanza 16.”, in Psyche: Or Loves Mysterie, […], London: […] John Dawson for George Boddington, […], →OCLC, page 14, column 2:
text: [C]ome not near me to night, vvhile I'm in vvrath.
ref: 1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act II, page 24:
text: The Seer, vvho could not yet his VVrath aſſvvage,
 Rovvl'd his green Eyes, that ſparkl'd vvith his Rage; […]
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 142, lines 651–652:
text: For vvhen he knevv his Rival freed and gone,
 He ſvvells vvith VVrath; he makes outrageous Moan:
 He frets, he fumes, he ſtares, he ſtamps the Ground;
 The hollowvv Tovv'r vvith Clamours rings around: […]
ref: 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:
text: VVhat Drop or Noſtrum can this Plague remove?
 Or vvhich muſt end me, a Fool's VVrath or Love?
ref: 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 2, lines 29–30:
text: Then nature injur'd, ſcandaliz'd, defil'd,
 Unveil'd her bluſhing cheek, look'd on and ſmil'd,
 Beheld vvith joy the lovely ſcene defac'd,
 And prais'd the vvrath that lay'd her beauties vvaſte.
ref: 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Expostulation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 124:
text: […] Miſs Margland, in deep vvrath, refuſed to let her move a ſtep.
ref: 1796, [Frances Burney], “A Raffle”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Payne, […]; and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, book II, page 254:
text: But quickly Peter's mood is chang'd,
 And on he drives with cheeks that burn
 In downright fury and in wrath— […]
ref: 1798 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Part First”, in Peter Bell, a Tale in Verse, London: […] Strahan and Spottiswoode, […]; for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 26:
text: When lo! a wasted Female form,
 Blighted by wrath of sun and storm,
 In tattered weeds and wild array,
 Stood on a cliff beside the way, […]
ref: 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto IV. The Prophecy.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XXI, page 172:
text: [S]he remained still: except that she clenched her arms tighter and tighter within each other, on her bosom, as if to restrain them by that means from doing an injury to herself, or some one else, in the blind fury of the wrath that suddenly possessed her.
ref: 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Another Mother and Daughter”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 348:
text: His chafing, bleeding temper is one raw; his whole soul one rage, and wrath, and fever.
ref: 1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “I Charge You, Drop Your Daggers!”, in The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 238:
text: How sweetly would she glide between your wraths,
 And steal you from each other!
ref: 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 87:
text: We come in charity and good will, but we may go in wrath.
ref: 1882, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XII, in In Maremma […], volume I, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 243:
text: 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?
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, “‘Sing Cuccu Nu’”, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC, part I (“Come He Will”), page 47:
synonyms: word: fury
word: ire
word: bile
word: choler
word: dander
word: displeasure
word: dudgeon
word: fury
word: gall
word: grudge
word: indignation
word: ire
word: rage
word: red mist
word: resentment
word: spleen
word: vexation
word: woodness
word: wrath
glosses: Great anger; (countable) an instance of this.
examples: text: the wrath of God
text: […] I [i.e., God] gaue the [thee] a kinge in my wrath, and in my diſpleaſure will I take him from the agayne.
ref: 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Eseas [Hosea] xiij:[11], folio lxxxvi, verso, column 1:
text: [H]e is the miniſter of God, a reuenger to execute wrath vpon him that doeth euill.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 13:4, column 2:
text: And though not mortall, yet a cold ſhuddring devv
 Dips me all o'e[r], as vvhen the vvrath of Iove
 Speaks thunder, and the chaines of Erebus
 To ſome of Saturns crevv.
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 27:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: He to appeaſe thy wrauth, and end the ſtrife
 Of Mercy and Juſtice in thy face diſcern'd,
 Regardleſs of the Bliſs wherein hee ſat
 Second to thee, offerd himſelf to die
 For mans offence.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 406–410:
text: [T]he vvrath of God cometh upon the children of diſobedience.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 188:
glosses: Punishment, retribution, or vengeance resulting from anger; (countable) an instance of this.
examples: text: [T]hey are in the verie vvrath of loue, and they vvill together. Clubbes cannot part them.
ref: 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:
text: [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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Great ardour or passion.
Derived terms: word: grapes of wrath
word: like the wrath of God
word: unwrathful
word: unwrathfully
word: wrathful
word: wrathfully
word: wrathfulness
word: wrathless
word: wrathlessness
word: wrathy
Related terms: wroth