Ranting

How to spell ranting

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ranting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ranting mean?

1. verbSpeaking or writing at length in a loud, angry, or agitated way.
2. nounThe act of loud, angry, or extravagant speech.

Ranting in a sentence

• verb

  He spent the whole meeting ranting about the new parking rules.

• noun

  Endless ranting rarely changes anyone's opinion at work.

• verb

  She kept ranting about the late delivery until her coffee went cold.

• noun

  His constant ranting about taxes made the dinner uncomfortable.

Where does ranting come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

This word grows from the verb 'rant', which English borrowed in the late 1500s from the Dutch verb 'ranten', meaning 'to talk foolishly' or 'to rave'. In its earliest English use it carried the sense of loud, extravagant, boisterous speech, often with a hint of theatrical bluster, and Elizabethan writers used it of ranting actors who declaimed their lines too wildly. Over time the word settled into its modern meaning of speaking or writing at length in an angry, agitated way. The present participle 'ranting' simply adds the ordinary '-ing' ending to the single-syllable root, so the only thing to remember in spelling is that the final 't' is not doubled: the short 'a' before a single consonant keeps one 't', giving 'ranting' rather than 'rantting'.

How the word is built

• rant (verb: rave, declaim loudly)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)