Definition of ire
: intense and usually openly displayed anger
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Examples of ire in a Sentence
He directed his ire at the coworkers who reported the incident.
the patronizing comment from the snooty waiter roused her ire
Recent Examples of ire from the Web
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Fashion brand Zara and Delta Air Lines drew Beijing's ire and apologized for listing Taiwan and/or Tibet as countries on drop-down menus on their websites.
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Both slayings, authorities said, were driven by Irsan's ire over his daughter Nesreen's decision to marry Beavers, a Christian.
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There’s really no point in discussing this Celtics team without discussing Smart who, whatever the box score says, manages to do something on every possession that draws the eye—or the ire, or, occasionally both.
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Lars von Trier has never shied away from controversy, and his new film certainly delivered it: The House That Jack Built earned the highest level of ire and disgust seen at Cannes Film Festival this year.
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Holdman drew the group's ire by proposing legislation that would have protected gay and lesbian Hoosiers from discrimination.
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For the record, most of the characters in the show seem perplexed by Sam's ire.
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Such ire is to be expected from the president—but several prominent journalists scolded Wolf’s address as well, including NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell, who said Wolf should apologize.
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On the flip side, the issue could raise ire with conservative lawmakers in those aforementioned states, where companies like Delta have been punished for their social views.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ire.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of ire
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin ira; perhaps akin to Greek oistros gadfly, frenzy
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: 14th century
in the meaning defined above
See Words from the same yearire Synonyms
Synonyms
anger, angriness, furor, fury, indignation, irateness, lividity, lividness, mad, madness, outrage, rage, spleen, wrath, wrathfulness;
Near Antonyms
Related Words
aggravation, annoyance, exasperation, irritation, vexation;
acrimoniousness, acrimony, animosity, antagonism, antipathy, bile, bitterness, contempt, embitterment, enmity, grudge, hostility, rancor;
envy, jaundice, jealousy, pique, resentment;
malevolence, malice, spite, vengefulness, venom, vindictiveness, virulence, vitriol;
belligerence, contentiousness, contrariness, crankiness, disputatiousness, hot-headedness, irascibility, irascibleness, irritability, orneriness, pugnaciousness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, querulousness;
blowup, flare, flare-up, outburst;
Phrases
slow burn;
Synonym Discussion of ire
anger, ire, rage, fury, indignation, wrath mean an intense emotional state induced by displeasure. anger, the most general term, names the reaction but by itself does not convey cause or intensity.
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- tried to hide his anger
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- cheeks flushed with ire
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- shook with rage
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- could not contain his fury
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- a comment that caused general indignation
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- I feared her wrath if I was discovered
IRE Defined for English Language Learners
IRE Defined for Kids
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See words that rhyme with ire Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for ire Spanish Central: Translation of ire Nglish: Translation of ire for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of ire for Arabic speakers
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