What does anger mean?
Anger is a strong emotional response characterized by displeasure, hostility, or indignation, usually triggered by a perceived wrong, insult, injustice, or obstruction. It ranks among the most fundamental human emotions and ranges in intensity from simmering resentment to outright fury. In everyday usage, anger appears both as a noun describing the feeling itself and, less commonly, as a verb meaning to provoke such a feeling in someone else. The word is emotionally charged: it can signal legitimate outrage at genuine wrongdoing, as in 'righteous anger', yet unmanaged anger is widely associated with damaged relationships, poor judgment, and health problems, which has given rise to entire therapeutic fields such as anger management. Common collocations include 'a fit of anger' and 'bottling up anger'. Derived forms include the adjective 'angry' and the adverb 'angrily'. The word entered Middle English from Old Norse 'angr', making it one of many everyday English words rooted in Scandinavian settlement of medieval Britain.
A strong feeling of displeasure, hostility, or indignation, typically aroused by injury, insult, or opposition.
"She could barely conceal her anger at the accusation."
Often used with prepositions such as 'with', 'in', or 'out of' (e.g., 'said out of anger').
To make someone feel anger; to provoke, enrage, or irritate.
"His constant interruptions began to anger the whole committee."
Less common than expressing the same idea as 'make someone angry'; chiefly transitive.
Rarely used in the plural; 'anger' is almost always treated as an uncountable mass noun referring to the emotion in general.
"The novel explores the different angers of its three protagonists."
The word 'anger' comes from the Old Norse 'angr' — the same root family that gave English 'anguish' — so for over a thousand years these two words have been close emotional cousins.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of anger
The word 'anger' derives from the Old Norse noun 'angr', meaning sorrow, grief, or affliction, brought into English during the period of Scandinavian settlement and attested in Middle English from around the thirteenth century. Its sense gradually shifted from grief toward the modern meaning of strong displeasure. It shares deep roots with words like 'anguish' and 'anxious', which descend from related Indo-European roots conveying distress or constriction.
Related word forms
How anger is actually used
Anger is a common, neutral-register word usable in both formal and informal contexts. It often carries connotations of justified indignation when paired with moral language ('righteous anger'), but habitual or uncontrolled anger is generally viewed negatively. As a verb, 'anger' is less common than simply saying 'made someone angry'.
Easily confused with anger
Annoyance is a mild, passing irritation, whereas anger is a stronger, more intense emotion that can involve hostility.