angry

ANG-gree/ˈæŋ.ɡɹi/

4 meanings of angry

1
madadjective
Feeling or showing strong displeasure or hostility.
He grew angry as the meeting dragged on without any decisions.
Voters were angry about the promises their representatives had broken.
UsageUsually angry with or at someone and angry about something. Common with get: get angry.
Similarannoyed, furious, irate, cross, mad
Oppositecalm, pleased, happy, content
2
stormyadjectivefiguratively
Of the sky or sea, dark, stormy, and seeming to threaten.
An angry sky loomed over the harbor as the fishermen hurried home.
The sea turned angry, hurling spray across the deck.
Similarstormy, threatening, menacing, rough, turbulent
Oppositecalm, peaceful, tranquil
Note
Weather and water borrow the human temper here, described as if they meant harm. Angry sea is the settled pairing. It runs from Christopher Smart's 1756 translation of Horace's second Epode ("nor dreads he the angry sea") to Kelly Joyce Neff's Dear Companion (1997), where it frames a feeling of being adrift.
3
sore (skin)adjective
Of a wound or area of skin, inflamed and painful.
The surgeon examined the angry wound for early signs of infection.
An angry rash spread across her forearm overnight.
UsageOften with red: an angry red rash.
Similarinflamed, sore, red, raw

Less common meaning

4
verbobsoletetransitive
To fill someone with anger; to provoke to wrath.
Our temperate Sage, though angried at that spirit of contradiction which he had raised, must, however, have sometimes smiled both on his advocates and his adversaries!
1814, [Isaac D’Israeli], Quarrels of Authors
Note
The adjective once doubled as a verb, conjugated regularly as angries, angrying, angried. Its participle did much of the work: "the angried souldiers" in William Biddulph's The Trauels of Certaine Englishmen (1609), and the common sort "soone angried" in Iohn Iackson's The Soule Is Immortall (1611).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
Angry historically functioned as a transitive verb, with the regular forms angries, angrying, and angried. en.wiktionary.org
The past participle angried is attested in historical prose. en.wiktionary.org
William Biddulph's The Trauels of Certaine Englishmen was first published in 1609. ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Biddulph's book contains the phrase 'the angried souldiers'. en.wiktionary.org
The Soule Is Immortall is attributed to Iohn Iackson and was published in 1611. onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
The Soule Is Immortall describes the common sort as 'soone angried'. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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Origin

From the Middle English word "angry", connected to "anger".

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

English angry descends from Middle English angry and is derived from anger with the suffix -y. en.wiktionary.org