Furious

How to spell furious

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce furious

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does furious mean?

1. adjectiveFeeling or showing extreme, intense anger.
2. adjectiveMarked by great force, speed, or intensity.

Furious in a sentence

• The manager was furious when the report missed the deadline.

• The runners set a furious pace in the final mile of the race.

• She felt furious about the unexpected charge on her bank statement.

• A furious storm battered the coast throughout the night.

Where does furious come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin furiosus, meaning 'full of rage' or 'frenzied', which was built on furia, the noun for violent passion, madness, or fury. The Romans also personified that idea in the Furiae, the avenging spirits of Greek and Roman myth who hunted down wrongdoers, so the root carried a strong flavour of uncontrollable, almost supernatural anger. English took the word in during the late 1300s by way of Old French furieus, and it has kept the same core meaning of extreme anger ever since. It also developed a second, milder sense of great speed or intensity, as in 'a furious pace', because furious energy and furious rage share the same sense of force unleashed. The spelling trap sits in the middle: the unstressed 'i' before the '-ous' ending is easy to drop or swap, even though the word is simply fury reshaped with that 'i' preserved.

How the word is built

• furi- (from Latin furia: rage, frenzy)
• -ous (adjective suffix: full of)