on the warpath

1. From a Native American expression for war, to be “on the warpath” is to be exceedingly angry and to be inclined to take some hostile action: “Watch out! John is on the warpath today.”

Idioms and Phrases

Furious and on a hostile course of action, as in When the meat wasn't delivered, the chef went on the warpath . This expression was an English translation of a Native American term that literally means “a path used by a war party.” Go on the war path thus meant “go to battle.” It was used in this way by James Fenimore Cooper in The Deerslayer (1841); its present hyperbolic use dates from the late 1800s.

Example Sentences

Trump’s subject heading for one of his recent violence-inciting fundraising emails reads, “I’m on the warpath.”

From Salon

Mr Swinney accused the Conservatives of being "on the warpath" against Holyrood with the new proposal.

From BBC

And that means that President Biden needs to go on the warpath just like dozens of leading Democratic officials and strategists are asking him to.

From Slate

"If I see any more of this from Trump ... I'm gonna have to go on the warpath," Jones warned.

From Salon

State Rep. Brad Sherman is on the warpath, insisting it's "a tortured and twisted interpretation of law that affords Satan, who is universally understood to be the enemy of God, religious expression equal to God in an institution of government that depends upon God for continued blessings."

From Salon

Related Words

• desperate
• enraged
• fierce
• frantic
• frenetic
• frenzied
• incensed
• livid
• raging
• vehement
• violent