outrage
Americannoun
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an act of wanton cruelty or violence; any gross violation of law or decency.
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anything that strongly offends, insults, or affronts the feelings.
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a powerful feeling of resentment or anger aroused by something perceived as an injury, insult, or injustice.
Outrage seized the entire nation at the news of the attempted assassination.
verb (used with object)
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to subject to grievous violence or indignity.
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to anger or offend; make resentful; shock.
I am outraged by his whole attitude.
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to offend against (right, decency, feelings, etc.) grossly or shamelessly.
Such conduct outrages our normal sense of decency.
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to rape.
- Synonyms:
- violate
noun
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a wantonly vicious or cruel act
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a gross violation of decency, morality, honour, etc
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profound indignation, anger, or hurt, caused by such an act
verb
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to cause profound indignation, anger, or resentment in
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to offend grossly (feelings, decency, human dignity, etc)
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to commit an act of wanton viciousness, cruelty, or indecency on
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a euphemistic word for rape 1
Other Word Forms
- unoutraged adjective
Etymology
Origin of outrage
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French outrage, ultrage, equivalent to outr ( er ) to push beyond bounds (derivative of outre beyond < Latin ultrā ) + -age -age
Explanation
If you consider how people are treated in airports an outrage, you get really angry over airport security or the price of airport food. Six dollars for a piece of pizza? What an outrage! Something is an outrage when it is shocking and makes you angry. Stealing from an orphanage? That's an outrage. Sometimes outrage leads to action. Public outrage over the latest political scandal often makes the news.
Vocabulary lists containing outrage
NAEP Test Words
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100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They took a wedge, which has never been recovered, from the tree as a trophy and revelled in the media coverage as news of the vandalism caused national and international outrage.
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026
The author depicts all this vividly and with sardonic wit, but with little fuss or outrage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
The municipality triggered outrage on January 6 when it revealed that no annual safety check had been carried out at the bar since 2019.
From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026
The reaction has been predictable: outrage and confusion.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026
When she got home that night, Anthony wrote in her journal, “The greatest judicial outrage history ever recorded! We were convicted before we had a hearing and the trial was a mere farce.”
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
