wroth

Etymology

From Middle English wroth, wrooth, from Old English wrāþ, from Proto-Germanic *wraiþaz (“cruel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to turn”). Akin to Saterland Frisian wreed (“haughty; proud”), Old Saxon wrēd (“evil”) (Dutch wreed (“cruel”)), Old High German reid (“cruel”), Old Norse reiðr (“angry”) (Danish vred, Swedish vred).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹəʊθ/
• (UK, alternatively) IPA^(key): /ɹɒθ/
  • Homophone: wrath
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɔθ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɹɑθ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊθ, -ɒθ

Adjective

wroth (comparative more wroth, superlative most wroth)

1. (formal, archaic) Full of anger; wrathful.

   Synonym: wrath

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 4:5:

     But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 289:

     You behold, Sir, how he waxeth Wroth at your Abode here.

   • 1816, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “(please specify the page)”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], →OCLC:

     And to be wroth with one we love, / Doth work like madness in the brain.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

   • 1905, Howard Pyle, The Story of the Champions of the Round Table‎, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 48:

     At this Sir Launcelot was very wroth; for he could not abide seeing a fellow-knight of the Round Table treated with such disregard as that which Sir Gaheris suffered at the hands of Sir Turquine; […]

   • 1936, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Part 3, Chapter 4:

     Business men are learning that it pays to be friendly to strikers. For example, when two thousand five hundred employees in the White Motor Company's plant struck for higher wages and a union shop, Robert F. Black, the president, didn't wax wroth and condemn, and threaten and talk of tyranny and Communists. He actually praised the strikers. He published an advertisement in the Cleveland papers, complimenting them on "the peaceful way in which they laid down their tools."

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “wroth”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “wroth”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• -worth, Worth, throw, whort, worth

Alternative forms

• wrooth, wroþ

Etymology

From Old English wrāþ, from Proto-Germanic *wraiþaz (“cruel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to turn”).

Adjective

wroth

1. Wrathful, wroth.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wyfe of Bathes Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio xxxvii, recto:

     So that the clerkes be nat with me wroth
     I ſaye that they were maked for bothe
     This is to ſeyn, for offyce and for ease
     Of engendrure, there we nat god diſpleaſe

     So that the clerks be not with me wrathful
     I say that they [genitals] were made for both
     This is to say, for duty and for ease
     Of reproduction, that we not God displease