outrage

Etymology

From Middle English outrage, from Old French outrage, oultrage (“excess”), from Late Latin *ultragium, *ultraticum ("a going beyond") and from Latin ultra (“beyond”); rather than from out and rage. The verb is from Middle English outragen, from Old French oultragier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaʊt.ɹeɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

outrage (countable and uncountable, plural outrages)

1. An excessively violent or vicious attack; an atrocity.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tremarn Case‎:

     “There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. […]”

2. An offensive, immoral or indecent act.
3. The resentful anger aroused by such acts.
4. (obsolete) A destructive rampage.

   "by the outrage and fury of the river Effra" (from an old description of flood damage).

Verb

outrage (third-person singular simple present outrages, present participle outraging, simple past and past participle outraged)

1. (transitive) To cause or commit an outrage upon; to treat with violence or abuse.
   • Atterbury

     Base and insolent minds outrage men when they have hope of doing it without a return.

   • Broome

     This interview outrages all decency.

2. (archaic, transitive) To violate; to rape (a female).
3. (obsolete, transitive) To rage in excess of.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Young to this entry?)

Related terms

• outrageous

Further reading

• outrage in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• outrage in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology

From Old French oltrage

Noun

outrage m (plural outrages)

1. offence, insult, contempt
2. (literary) onslaught

Verb

outrage

1. first-person singular present indicative of outrager
2. third-person singular present indicative of outrager
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of outrager
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of outrager
5. second-person singular imperative of outrager

Further reading

• “outrage” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).