see red

1. To be or become extremely angry: “When Roger realized that he had been duped, he started to see red.”

Idioms and Phrases

Become very angry, as in I saw red when I learned they had not invited Tom and his family . The precise allusion in this term is not known, but it probably refers to the longstanding association of the color red with passion and anger. [ Colloquial ; c. 1900]

Example Sentences

The Daily Pic: Around 1758, Jean-Claude Duplessis designed pink vases that made the masses see red.

From The Daily Beast

As Ebony magazine put it in a 1993 article, a black man choosing a white woman causes black women to “see red.”

From The Daily Beast

Choire Sicha on the show's new cool quotient, plus see red-carpet fashions.

From The Daily Beast

We began to see red barns and comfortable farmhouses, still set wide apart, though, for the farms are large.

From Project Gutenberg

Ermine ees brave man—he eese see red, an' he wiell try eet eef he do hang.

From Project Gutenberg

He was getting right over them now, he thought; he could see red flashes along the horizon.

From Project Gutenberg

The effect of scarlet upon animals, the bull for instance, is well known—to use the familiar term, it causes one to "see red."

From Project Gutenberg

Wouldn't it be wonderful to see red-hot rock come right out of the top of the mountain and fall down all around it!

From Project Gutenberg

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