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

The man killed Tuesday in a Douglas County road rage shooting had exited his car and was reaching into the suspect’s vehicle, allegedly punching him, when he was shot, according to court records. —Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 25 Sep. 2025

Only 11% of drivers in the study admitted to violent road rage behaviors in the last year, such as bumping other cars on purpose or confronting other drivers. —Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025

Drivers were asked to describe their aggressive behaviors, situations that compelled aggressive driving, emotions felt, coping strategies and road rage experiences. —Stuart Dyos, USA Today, 24 Sep. 2025

One road rage instance left a Dearborn Heights teen dead earlier this year. —Natalie Davies, Freep.com, 23 Sep. 2025

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