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wrath

nounverbadjectivecommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//ɹɒθ//
  • United Kingdom//ɹɔːθ//
  • United Kingdom//ɹɑːθ//
  • United Kingdom//ɹɔθ//
  • United Kingdom//ɹaθ//

Great anger; (countable) an instance of this.

noun

  1. 1

    Great anger; (countable) an instance of this.

    Homer relates an episode in the Trojan War that reveals the tragic consequences of the wrath of Achilles.

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

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

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

  2. 2

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

    the wrath of God

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

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

    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.

  3. 3

    obsoleteGreat ardour or passion.

    [T]hey are in the verie vvrath of loue, and they vvill together. Clubbes cannot part them.

    [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.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English wratthe (“anger, hostility, distress 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); compare Dutch wreedte. 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 wratthe, wretthe (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo anger (someone); to enrage.

    [R]emembre howe by thy cursed synnes thou haste offended and wrathed thy lorde god.

    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.

    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. 2

    obsoleteTo become angry with (someone).

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo become angry.

    "Nay, wrath thee not, Will," said Ganlesse; "and speak no words in haste, lest you may have cause to repent at leisure.[…]"

    God is a righteous judge, strong and patient, and God wratheth every day.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicSynonym of wroth (“full of anger; wrathful”).

    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.

    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: […]

    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.

    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.

Etymology

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

Forms

plural
wraths
comparative
more wrath
superlative
most wrath
past tense
wrathed
past participle
wrathed
present participle
wrathing
third person singular
wraths
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).