Infuriate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈfjʊəɹieɪt/

Definitions

1. To cause someone to become extremely angry or filled with rage
2. To provoke intense anger or frustration in a person
3. To stir up a strong feeling of anger or irritation in someone

Etymology: The verb "infuriate" first appears in English in 1667, and its raw material is a Latin word for madness. The Latin "furia" meant rage, fury or frenzy, and the Romans also used it for the avenging spirits of myth, the Furies. From it, Medieval Latin formed "infuriare" (to enrage), whose past participle "infuriatus" meant "enraged." English took that participle and turned it into a verb, so the word is essentially a mood-word in disguise: it started life describing someone already in a rage. The Latin ending "-ate" is the familiar verb-forming suffix found in words like "activate" and "separate," which explains the shape the word took when it crossed into English. Some scholars suggest the word may have reached English by way of Italian "infuriato," though the route is not certain.

Synonyms: anger, enrage, irritate, vex, provoke

Antonyms: calm, appease, soothe, pacify, comfort