road rage

noun

: a motorist's uncontrolled anger that is usually triggered by an action of another motorist and that is expressed in aggressive or violent behavior

From punching cars to shooting drivers, road rage … takes many forms.

—Natalie La Roche Pietri

Drivers reported experiencing road rage most frequently on city streets (29.18%), on freeways or highways (26.59%) and in parking lots (14.9%).

—Ashlee Tilford

—often used before another noun

a road rage incident

An apparent road rage shooting left one person wounded …

—Anna Spoerre

road rager

ˈrōd-ˌrā-jər 

noun

plural road ragers

Other drivers may have similar feelings or thoughts, but only the road rager responds with dangerous behavior: tailgating, pulling right in front of you at high speeds, running you off the road, refusing to let you into traffic, and so on.

—Michael Karson

Examples of road rage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On June 5, a 22-year-old Towson University student was shot and killed near Towson Circle in an apparent road rage shooting. —Cbs Baltimore Staff, CBS News, 18 June 2026

Colorado’s aggressive driving hotline, *CSP, received 33,387 reports of road rage incidents in 2025, Colorado State Patrol trooper and spokesperson Sherri Mendez said. —Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 15 June 2026

The movie marks Borte and Crowe’s second collaboration together after 2020 road rage drama Unhinged. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 13 June 2026

The zipper merge also helps vehicles avoid coming to a complete stop, which can lead to sudden lane switching, inconsistent driving speeds that cause crashes, long back-ups and road rage. —Rashad Alexander, Kansas City Star, 13 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for road rage

• assuage
• backstage
• bocage
• downstage
• engage
• enrage
• leafage
• messuage
• offstage
• onstage
• outrage
• pelage