rage Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a feeling of intense anger
    fury; madness.
    • hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
    • his face turned red with rage
  2. noun a state of extreme anger
    • she fell into a rage and refused to answer
  3. noun something that is desired intensely
    passion.
    • his rage for fame destroyed him
  4. noun violent state of the elements
    • the sea hurled itself in thundering rage against the rocks
  5. noun an interest followed with exaggerated zeal
    fad; furore; cult; furor; craze.
    • he always follows the latest fads
    • it was all the rage that season
  6. verb behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
    ramp; storm.
  7. verb be violent; as of fires and storms
  8. verb feel intense anger
    • Rage against the dying of the light!

WordNet

Rage noun
Etymology
F., fr. L. rabies, fr. rabere to rave; cf. Skr. rabh to seize, rabhas violence. Cf. Rabid, Rabies, Rave.
Definitions
  1. Violent excitement; eager passion; extreme vehemence of desire, emotion, or suffering, mastering the will. "In great rage of pain." Bacon.
    He appeased the rage of hunger with some scraps of broken meat. Macaulay.
    Convulsed with a rage of grief. Hawthorne.
  2. Especially, anger accompanied with raving; overmastering wrath; violent anger; fury.
    torment, and loud lament, and furious rage. Milton.
  3. A violent or raging wind. Obs. Chaucer.
  4. The subject of eager desire; that which is sought after, or prosecuted, with unreasonable or excessive passion; as, to be all the rage. Syn. -- Anger; vehemence; excitement; passion; fury. See Anger.
Rage intransitive verb
Etymology
OF. ragier. See Rage, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Raged ; present participle & verbal noun Raging
Definitions
  1. To be furious with anger; to be exasperated to fury; to be violently agitated with passion. "Whereat he inly raged." Milton.
    When one so great begins to rage, he a hunted Even to falling. Shak.
  2. To be violent and tumultuous; to be violently driven or agitated; to act or move furiously; as, the raging sea or winds.
    Why do the heathen rage ? Ps. ii. 1.
    The madding wheels Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the noise. Milton.
  3. To ravage; to prevail without restraint, or with destruction or fatal effect; as, the plague raged in Cairo.
  4. To toy or act wantonly; to sport. Obs. Chaucer. Syn. -- To storm; fret; chafe; fume.
Rage transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To enrage. Obs. Shak.

Webster 1913