Word.ws English Dictionary

in anger

in anger adverb: with the intent of causing damage or harm to an opponent; in combat, rather than in peacetime training.

Adverb

in anger

  1. (especially) With the intent of causing damage or harm to an opponent; in combat, rather than in peacetime training.
    • The Napier of Magdala Battery never fired a shot in anger: it never engaged in combat.
    • These craft [flying boats] were never perfected, never flown in anger and destroyed at war's end.2009 December 22, Gaetano V. Cavallaro, Futility Ending in Disaster: Diplomatic, Military, Aviation and Social Events in the First World War on the Austro-Italian Front, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN...
  2. In a real situation, rather than only in theory or as part of practice or learning.
    • "Have you used it in anger yet?" The time is a dozen years ago, the place is Oxford, and my fellow postdoc has just scrutinized my new bike. He's admired the chrome, checked the gears, noted the Kryptonite lock. Now he wants to know if I've used it to serious purpose. Gleaming chrome is well and...1998 July 29, Philip Wadler, “Functional Programming: An Angry Half-Dozen”, in Sophie Cluet, editor, Database Programming Languages: 6th International Workshop, DBPL-6, Estes Park, Colorado, USA...
    • On the bench was Lorenzo Amoruso, who had yet to kick a ball in anger for the first team as he had been injured since his arrival the previous summer. He only had to wait nineteen minutes before he made his Rangers bow, as he was pitched into the white-hot heat of the Parkhead cauldron[…]2011 October 27, Alistair Aird, Ally McCoist - Rangers Legend, Kings Road Publishing, →ISBN
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, anger.

Examples of in anger in a sentence

  • Over the years, B52s have been deployed in anger by the US Air Force in two conflicts, Vietnam and the Gulf.2010 June 19, Ian Watson, The Royal Air Force at Home: The History of RAF Air Displays from 1920, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN:
  • What would deploying that concept in anger do to human ideatic space?2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 191–192:
  • "Have you used it in anger yet?" The time is a dozen years ago, the place is Oxford, and my fellow postdoc has just scrutinized my new bike.1998 July 29, Philip Wadler, “Functional Programming: An Angry Half-Dozen”, in Sophie Cluet, editor, Database Programming Languages: 6th...
  • At that point, Stoley gave up the cause and the Argonauts faded from history, still having yet to kick a ball in anger.2012 July 9, Anton Rippon, Amazing & Extraordinary Facts - Football, David and Charles, →ISBN:

Questions about in anger

What does in anger mean?
In anger means with the intent of causing damage or harm to an opponent; in combat, rather than in peacetime training.
How do you use in anger in a sentence?
Over the years, B52s have been deployed in anger by the US Air Force in two conflicts, Vietnam and the Gulf.
What part of speech is in anger?
In anger is an adverb.

Words near in anger in the dictionary

  1. in all weathers
  2. in altissimo
  3. in and of itself
  4. in and of themselves
  5. in and out
  6. in anger
  7. in another world
  8. in antis
  9. in any case
  10. in any event
  11. in any shape or form

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in anger (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-in anger.wav, en-au-fire in anger.ogg.

Cite this entry: “in anger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/in_anger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.