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 March 17 hate crime charge against the man is based on a May 2025 allegation in San Jose, with a police report alleging the man allegedly used a homophobic slur then threatened to shoot a trans woman following a road rage encounter in Willow Glen. —Caelyn Pender, Mercury News, 13 May 2026

Weld County Sheriff's Office A deputy responding to the call reporting the road rage incident spotted a GMC Yukon matching the description of the suspect's vehicle. —Christa Swanson, CBS News, 12 May 2026

Fort Worth police have determined that an April 30 road rage shooting that killed a man in northwest Fort Worth was a justifiable homicide, according to online records. —Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 May 2026

There’s road rage, air rage, gas rage and now, coming to South Florida, World Cup ticket rage. —Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 6 May 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