wrath

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɒθ/, /ɹɔːθ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹæθ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɹæθ/, /ɹɔθ/
• Homophone: wroth (some speakers)
• Rhymes: -ɒθ, -ɔːθ, -æθ

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English wraththe, wreththe (“anger, fury, rage; animosity, hostility; deadly sin of wrath; distress, vexation; punishment; retribution (?)”) , from Old English wrǣþþu (“ire, wrath”) , 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.

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”) , from wraththe, wreththe (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).

Noun

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.

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt  (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Ephesians iiij:[31], folios cclvij, recto – cclvij, verso:

     Let all bitternes, fearſnes and wrath, rorynge and curſyd ſpeakynge, be put awaye from you, with all maliciouſnes.

   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarie. Aegloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: , London: Hugh Singleton, , →OCLC; reprinted as H Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender , London: John C. Nimmo, , 1890, →OCLC, folio 1, verso:

     Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath waſted, / Art made a myrrhour, to behold my plight: […]

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: 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:

     I tel you true my hart is ſwolne with wrath, / On this ſame theeuiſh villain Tamburlain.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 8, page 21:

     [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; […]

   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 183, column 1:

     VVho (in my vvrath) / Kneel'd and my feet, and bid me be aduis'd?

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 13, column 2:

     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.

   • 1648, Joseph Beaumont, “Canto II. Lust Conquered.”, in Psyche: Or Loves Mysterie, , London: George Boddington, , published 1651, →OCLC, stanza 16, page 14, column 2:

     [S]tern briſtles hedg'd up high / His back, vvhich did all vvrath of thorns defie.

   • 1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. , In the Savoy : T Newcomb for H Herringman, , published 1669, Act II, page 24:

     [C]ome not near me to night, vvhile I'm in vvrath.

   • 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:

     The Seer, vvho could not yet his VVrath aſſvvage, / Rovvl'd his green Eyes, that ſparkl'd vvith his Rage; […]

   • 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 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: […]

   • 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: J Wright for Lawton Gilliver , →OCLC, page 2, lines 29–30:

     VVhat Drop or Noſtrum can this Plague remove? / Or vvhich muſt end me, a Fool's VVrath or Love?

   • 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Expostulation”, in Poems, London: J Johnson, , →OCLC, page 124:

     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.

   • 1796, [Frances Burney], “A Raffle”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. , volume I, London: T Payne, ; and T Cadell Jun. and W Davies (successors to Mr. Cadell) , →OCLC, book II, page 254:

     […] Miſs Margland, in deep vvrath, refuſed to let her move a ſtep.

   • 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:

     But quickly Peter's mood is chang'd, / And on he drives with cheeks that burn / In downright fury and in wrath— […]

   • 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:

     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, […]

   • 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:

     [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.

   • 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:

     His chafing, bleeding temper is one raw; his whole soul one rage, and wrath, and fever.

   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., , →OCLC, page 87:

     How sweetly would she glide between your wraths, / And steal you from each other!

   • 1882, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XII, in In Maremma , volume I, London: Chatto & Windus, , →OCLC, page 243:

     We come in charity and good will, but we may go in wrath.

   • 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:

     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. (uncountable) Punishment, retribution, or vengeance resulting from anger; (countable) an instance of this.

   the wrath of God

   • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble,  (Coverdale Bible), , →OCLC, Eseas [Hosea] xiij:[11], folio lxxxvi, verso, column 1:

     […] I [i.e., God] gaue the [thee] a kinge in my wrath, and in my diſpleaſure will I take him from the agayne.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Romans 13:4, column 2:

     [H]e is the miniſter of God, a reuenger to execute wrath vpon him that doeth euill.

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: , 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:

     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.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 406–410:

     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.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: , London: Nath Ponder , →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, , 1928, →OCLC, page 188:

     [T]he vvrath of God cometh upon the children of diſobedience.

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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• wroth

Translations

Verb

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.
      • , Jacobus van Gruitroede, translated by [Margaret Beaufort], The Mirroure of Golde for the Synfull Soule‎, 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 ‎, 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 ‎, London: Wynkyn de Worde, →OCLC, folio , 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

Etymology 2

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

Adjective

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: 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

References

Further reading

• anger on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “wrath”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Anagrams

• Warth, warth