Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
| Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Top Words. My name is Alisha and today, we're going to talk about 10 Words and Phrases for Expressing Anger. I'll say this thing that I've included one fairly rude word on this list, so I hope you forgive me. If you would like more rude words, please Google them. I will not talk about more rude words. Anyway, let's get started. |
| "Angry." |
| First is the word, "angry." Angry. So, "angry" is the most basic word you can use. "I feel angry." "She is angry." "He is angry." It's the basic level of a negative and slightly aggressive feeling. "My dog looks angry." "My boss was angry." We use it to talk about that feeling. So, in a sentence, "My mother was really angry with me." |
| "Furious." |
| Next is "furious." "Furious" means very angry. So, instead of saying, "I'm very angry," you could say, "I'm furious." This sounds much stronger. It's one word. It means very angry. But, it sounds much stronger and just very angry. So, "angry" is aggressive and negative, "furious" is the next level or, maybe, two levels up. Like, "My boss was furious at the team for their mistake," or, "My neighbors were furious with me for my huge pool party last night," or, "I was furious of my brother for locking me out of the house," for example. One more, "My teacher is furious with us today." |
| "Mad." |
| The next word is "mad." Mad. "Mad" is going back down to that basic level, "angry" and "mad" are pretty much the same thing. "Mad" sounds like a word a little kid would use, like, "I'm so mad right now," or, "I'm so mad I can't do this." It's like unhappy, with a little bit of aggressive. It means angry, really, but a lot of adults don't really use the word, "mad." It sounds more childish, the word, "mad." It's like, "I'm really mad right now," or, "I'm mad at you," or, "She's mad at him," or something like that. It sounds a little bit childish, the word "mad." Another example sentence, "I'm so mad I lost my keys." |
| "Upset." |
| The next word is "upset." Upset. This is a really useful word. We can use it to mean angry, yes, but upset means just that you are different from your regular personality, your regular level of emotion, your calm state. If you feel disappointed or you feel sad, or you feel angry, you can use the word, "upset," to describe that. It means you're just not in the right place. You're not quite in balance, upset. So, we can use the word, "upset," actually, as a verb. It's an old meaning. If I use my water bottle, my Thermos, whatever, as an example, the word "upset" means to move something from its correct position. In my case, I could say, "I upset my water bottle when I moved my arm." I moved it form its correct position. We can use the word as an adjective, then, too. "I'm upset," meaning, my emotions have been moved from their original or their correct position. So, we can use it to mean angry, too. Like, "I'm so upset with my boss right now," or, "I'm so upset with myself as well." So, we usually say, like, "I'm upset with something or someone." In another example sentence, "I'm really upset." |
| "Pissed off." |
| Okay. Warning, this one's a little bit rude, a little bit rude, but you might hear it in British English. You'll hear it in American English, as well. It's sort of light on the scale of rude words. But, the expression is "pissed off." Pissed off. So, to say "I'm really pissed off," it's a casual word, but it's considered a rude word. I would say it's considered a curse word in some families. So, to mean "I'm pissed off" is like it's usually for a fairly small thing that creates a lot of anger. So, maybe, if, for example, someone in your team or one of your friends makes a really, really silly mistake, just there's no reason for this mistake, but it creates a huge problem, you might say, "I'm so pissed off at that person right now. I'm just so pissed off." My feeling is that. So, it's typically not for a really, really serious problem. I suppose you could use it in that way, but it usually has this very casual, slangy, rough feeling about it. Do not use this in work. Don't use this with people that you respect. It is not a polite phrase. But, you might hear it, actually, in TV shows and in movies and in other media, "pissed off." I'm really pissed off right now. Please, be careful. That's what it means. In a sentence, "Sounds like the neighbor is really pissed off." |
| "Seething with rage." |
| Next expression is "seething with rage." "Seething with a rage." So, I included a rather formal, spooky, a little bit scary expression here. So, seething, it sounds like your whole body is just filled. Your body is almost moving because of how angry you are. So, "rage" is a noun. "Rage" means a very, very high level of anger. So, we talked about the word, "furious" near the beginning of this lesson. "Furious" is an adjective, "rage" is a noun. So, "anger" is like an aggressive, unhappy feeling, "anger" as a noun. "Rage" is a few levels up there. So, "seething," your body is seething with rage. Just like your body is shaking, just like your body is shaking. It's like your body is almost moving out of control because of you are so angry. So, this is a really serious issue. This is a serious level, seething with rage. However, this is not an expression that's commonly used in speech. We would use this in writing, more often than not. You might hear this in writing or, perhaps, in, maybe, formal expressions. I don't think I've ever used this expression myself to talk about my experience or my feelings. But, perhaps, I could talk about it if, maybe, I see a fight happen for example. I could say, "Whoa, those guys were seething with rage," for example. I don't know. To me, it sounds a little bit too formal to use for everyday conversations but if you're writing a story, for example, or you're reading a story and you want to really communicate a strong level of anger, you can say, "Seething with rage." In a sentence, "That guy at the bar was seething with rage. He was scary." Okay, next one. |
| "Livid." |
| The next word is "livid." Livid. "Livid" is an adjective. "I am livid right now." So, "livid" means angry, but I think "livid" is between angry and furious. "Livid," to me, has the impression of, maybe, extremely angry, and maybe you'll shout, or like your voice, the volume of your voice will pick up, just livid about something. So, yeah. Very angry about a mistake, about something bad that happened. I don't think it's quite at the level of furious. Maybe, it's just a little bit below furious. Like, "My boss was livid when he saw the reports from last month," for example. Maybe, shouting or screaming, or something like that. In my head, anyway, the image is that there's a high-volume reaction. Someone who is livid, maybe has a great, loud voice, in that case. In another sentence, "Some guy at the station was livid over a ticket charge." |
| "Lose (one's) temper." |
| Okay. The next expression is a set expression, "to lose one's temper," or, "to lose your temper." So, temper is, think of temper as your anger control, your anger control. So, for you to lose your temper, it means you lose control of your anger and you begin to shout or scream or cry, maybe. To lose your temper is to lose control of your angry feelings. So, this is a very common expression. Like, "My boss lost his temper with the management yesterday," or, "My mom lost her temper when the dog ran into the house with dirty feet," or, I don't know, "I lost my temper when my computer wouldn't start this morning," for example. So, you lose control of your anger. In another sentence, "She lost her temper when her computer crashed and her work disappeared." |
| "Go off (on someone)." |
| The next expression is "go off on someone," to go off on someone. This is a very casual expression, very casual that we use in American English. In past tense, we'll say, "he went off," or, "she went off on someone." So, "to go off," the idea is you can, maybe, think of it as go off like a bomb, if it helps. Like a bomb could go off, like a bomb could explode. So, to go off on someone is like to lose your temper at someone. So, it's losing your temper at the direction or in the direction of some person, but we use the expression on that person. So, "My boss went off on me today for all of my mistakes of the last month." I don't know. That's not true. Or, "My neighbor went off on the delivery guy for being three hours late." I don't know. Something that causes another person, they lose their temper at someone or something. In another sentence, "My boss went off on one of my coworkers this afternoon." |
| "Have a heated argument." |
| The last expression is "have a heated argument." "Have a heated argument." So, here, the word, "heated," is in there. Heated, like hot, meaning hot, aggressive. High level, maybe a high temperature argument. So, to have an argument and to have a heated argument are similar. Heated just sounds like there's a little more intensity in the argument. So, you can have an argument or you can have a discussion, whatever. Argument sounds stronger than discussion. Heated argument, therefore, is perhaps the next level of that kind of discussion or argument. So, "The neighbors are having a heated argument over there." "I heard my boss and the CEO having a heated argument in the conference room." One more sentence, "I got into a heated argument with one of my friends." |
| Those are 10 words and phrases for expressing your anger. I hope that you don't need to use these words, but, just in case, this is what they mean. If you have something else that you like to use to express your anger, please be kind, please be considerate. If you have another word that you like to use or that you're curious about to express your anger, just please consider that children might be reading, please let us know in the comment section. Thank you very much for watching this episode of Top Words and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye! |
Comments
Hide