apoplectic with rage
- idiom
- /ˌæpəˈplɛktɪk wɪð reɪdʒ/
- All except Phil Burton; glaring through the one-way glass window, almost apoplectic with rage, his mouth opened and closed several times before he finally managed to give utterance to his thoughts.
Examples
-
Seeing the damaged car, she turned apoplectic with rage, her face flushed and her hands shaking.
-
"What is the meaning of this!" spluttered Vendrake, hobbling forward as fast as his callipered legs would allow: his eyes bulging, apoplectic with rage in his head, the color of beetroot.
Blog text (9) -
I must be so apoplectic with rage that I forgot to show any sign of it whatsoever.
Blog text (10) -
When she discovered that her colleagues had betrayed her, she became apoplectic with rage and stormed out of the office.
-
He was apoplectic with rage after receiving the unfair criticism from his supervisor.
Synonyms
Very angry and ready to shout or complain
Very excited and unable to stay calm
Feeling very angry and shocked because something seems unfair
Very angry and showing it
So angry that you cannot speak or act calmly
Feeling very angry and likely to shout or lose control
Feeling very angry because someone treated you unfairly
Very angry and acting without thinking
Feeling very angry
Very strong and intense, often violent and out of control
Very angry and likely to act violently
Being very angry and hard to calm
Very angry and acting out of control
Feeling extremely angry and acting wildly
Very angry and unable to stay calm
Feeling very angry and showing that anger in words or actions
Very angry because of something unfair or wrong
Feeling very furious because someone did something unfair or rude
Feeling very angry and showing it
Feeling very angry and upset
Antonyms
How Angry
Surface Forms
Morphology
apoplectic + with + rage
The adjective 'apoplectic' already encodes extreme fury and the prepositional phrase 'with rage' simply specifies the accompanying emotion, so the overall meaning is directly compositional. This adjective + with + noun construction is a common, cross-linguistically transparent pattern, making the phrase predictable for a learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Apoplectic with rage comes from an old word used by doctors. Apoplectic once meant being struck by a sudden 'stroke'. People with a stroke looked very still or out of control, so the phrase now means being so angry you seem to 'lose control'.