anger

/ˈaŋ-gər/

Middle English anger, angre "distress, affliction, hostile attitude, strong displeasure," borrowed from Old Norse angr "grief, vexation," going back to Germanic *angaza-, from an Indo-European s-stem *hemǵ{sup}h{/sup}-es-/*hemǵ{sup}h{/sup}-os- (whence Latin angor "suffocation, anguish," Sanskrit áṁhaḥ "anxiety, trouble," Avestan ązah-), derivatives of a verbal base *hemǵ{sup}h{/sup}- "constrict, narrow," whence Latin angō, angere "to choke, cause pain to, afflict, vex," Greek ánchō, ánchein "to squeeze, strangle," Hittite ḫamanki "(s/he) ties, binds"; also from the base *hemǵ{sup}h{/sup}- an adjective derivative *hemǵ{sup}h{/sup}-u- "narrow," whence Germanic *angu- (> *angwu-, angwja-, whence Old English enge "narrow," ange "distressing," Old Saxon & Old High German engi "narrow," Old High German ango "anxious," Old Norse ǫngr, øngr, Gothic aggwus), Old Irish cumung "narrow," Welsh cyfyng, Old Church Slavic ǫzŭkŭ, Polish wązki, Armenian anjuk (Slavic & Armenian with a velar suffix), Sanskrit aṁhúḥ

noun

  1. a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism

  2. a threatening or violent appearance or state : rage

You could hear the anger in his voice.

anger ire rage fury indignation wrath mean an intense emotional state induced by displeasure. anger, the most general term, names the reaction but by itself does not convey cause or intensity. ire, more frequent in literary contexts, suggests an intense anger, often with an evident display of feeling.

verb

  1. to make (someone) angry

  2. to become angry

He was angered by the decision.

idiom

  1. because of sadness or disappointment rather than anger

He spoke more in sorrow than in anger about the fact that he was being forced out of his position.