Outrage

How to spell outrage

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce outrage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does outrage mean?

1. nounA strong feeling of anger and indignation, or an act that provokes such a feeling.
2. verbTo provoke a strong feeling of anger or shock in someone.

Outrage in a sentence

• noun

  The sudden price increase caused public outrage among commuters.

• verb

  The new tax rules will outrage many small business owners.

• noun

  Residents expressed their outrage at the council's decision to close the library.

• verb

  Such careless remarks tend to outrage loyal customers.

Where does outrage come from?

Language of origin: French

Outrage entered English in the 1300s from Old French outrage, which traced back to a Vulgar Latin form ultraticum built on the Latin ultra, meaning 'beyond' or 'in excess'. The literal idea was of going beyond all bounds or limits, so the earliest sense was of excessive, intemperate behaviour rather than the feeling of fury we now attach to it. The ending was simply the common -age suffix marking an action or condition, exactly as in 'passage' or 'voyage', and had nothing originally to do with anger. English speakers, hearing the second syllable, reshaped it by folk association with the unrelated word 'rage', which is why the spelling and the modern sense of furious indignation drifted together. That history explains the spelling trap: the word is out plus rage in appearance, but it is really 'ultra' plus '-age', so the e on the end belongs to the suffix.

How the word is built

• out- (from Latin ultra: beyond)
• -rage (from -age, action/state suffix; later associated by folk reshaping with the word 'rage')