red mist
- noun
- Informal
- When she felt betrayed, a red mist enveloped her, making it hard to think clearly.
And the red mist descends and you really can't see much more because your prefrontal cortex seems to be absent.
- And the red mist descends and you really can't see much more because your prefrontal cortex seems to be absent.
Examples
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He looked at his watch through a red mist of pain.
Fiction book (1998) -
In a moment of rage, the argument escalated, and he was engulfed by a red mist that clouded his judgment.
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It's like a red mist or...
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A red mist had descended.
Fiction book (1990) -
She's got the red mist.
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Rose collided with someone, and the red mist swirling inside her head cleared suddenly.
Fiction book (1998) -
These are things like mentalising the ability to inhibit prepotent responses, which is basically not to let the red mist rise when somebody.
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And the red mist descends and you really can't see much more because your prefrontal cortex seems to be absent.
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During the heated debate, the politician experienced a red mist that led him to say things he later regretted.
Synonyms
A very strong feeling of anger you cannot control
A sudden short burst of anger
Very strong anger that makes someone act violently or shout
Antonyms
How Angry
Surface Forms
Morphology
red + mist
The constituents 'red' (a color often metaphorically associated with anger) and 'mist' (something that obscures or clouds) together reasonably convey the idea of anger that clouds judgment, so the overall meaning can be partly inferred by composition. However, the mapping of 'red' to anger and the idiomatic use of 'mist' as ‘obscuring judgment’ is metaphorical and may not be immediately obvious to all B1 learners without prior exposure, making it only partially predictable.
Etymology
The noun red mist may come from the image of a cloud that covers a person's view: the mist hides sight and the red shows strong anger. That's why the phrase means 'intense anger that stops you thinking clearly'.