wrath
Meanings
Plural: wrath, wrathed, wraths
Noun
- intense anger (usually on an epic scale)
- belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong (personified as one of the deadly sins)
- Great anger; (countable) an instance of this.
- Punishment, retribution, or vengeance resulting from anger; (countable) an instance of this.
- Great ardour or passion.
Verb
- To anger (someone); to enrage.
- To become angry with (someone).
- To become angry.
Adj
- Synonym of wroth (“full of anger; wrathful”).
Origin / 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”)
Synonyms
anger, bile, choler, dander, displeasure, dudgeon, fury, gall, grudge, indignation, ira, ire, rage, red mist, resentment, spleen, vexation, woodness, wrath, wroth
Scrabble Score: 11
wrath is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordwrath is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
wrath is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary