# wrath

Pronunciation: US/AUS say "RATH" /ɹæθ/; UK say "ROTH" /ɹɒθ/

## Noun

1. Great anger, or an outburst of great anger.
   - Simple: Very strong anger.
   - _The plan to close the library drew the wrath of local residents._
   - _Nothing could soften the old man's wrath once he learned of the betrayal._
2. Punishment, retribution, or vengeance that comes from anger.
   - Simple: Punishment or revenge that comes because someone is angry.
   - _The preacher warned that the wrath of God would fall on the unrepentant city._
   - _Those who surrendered were spared the king's wrath, but the rest were hanged at dawn._

## Adjective

3. Full of anger; wroth. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Very angry.

## Noun

4. Great ardor or passion. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Very strong passion or eagerness.

## Verb

5. To make someone angry; to enrage. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make someone very angry.
6. To become angry, sometimes with a particular person. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To get angry, sometimes at a certain person.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–6** — From Middle English wraththe, “anger, fury, rage,” from Old English wrǣþþu, “ire, wrath,” probably from Proto-West Germanic *wraiþiþu, built on *wraiþ, “angry, hostile, twisted,” from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt-, “to twist”; in effect wroth + -th. The verb comes from Middle English wratthen, formed from that noun. Compare Swedish vrede, “anger, wrath.”
**Meaning 3** — A variant of wroth, probably influenced by the noun wrath.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/wrath (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).