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

She was shot in the neck, lawyer says Dawkins was caught in the crossfire of a road rage incident that had nothing to do with her. —David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 26 Nov. 2025

Detectives have not yet ruled out the possibility of the incident being related to road rage or self-defense, as there is no indication the two parties knew each other, according to Bower. —Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 23 Nov. 2025

The driver, who was uninjured, told officers the shooting appeared to be a road rage incident, police said. —Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Nov. 2025

The search is on for a shooter after the Florida Highway Patrol says a victim was wounded on I-95 Thursday night in a road rage incident. —November 21, CBS News, 21 Nov. 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