Word.ws English Dictionary

use in anger

use in anger verb: used for its intended purpose, as opposed to e.g. practice or testing.

Verb

use in anger (third-person singular simple present uses in anger, present participle using in anger, simple past and past participle used in anger)

  1. (idiomatic) Used for its intended purpose, as opposed to e.g. practice or testing
    • The key element that has yet to be used in anger is the payment calculation function of the operating system.2007 March 29, The Rural Payments Agency and the implementation of the Single Payment Scheme: third report of session 2006-07, Vol. 2: Oral and written evidence, Volume 2, Environment, Food and Rural...
    • Just having a play before I use in anger2020 June 10, anonymous author, AutoCAD LT Forum

Forms of use in anger

third-person singular presentuses in anger
present participleusing in anger
past participleused in anger
pastused in anger

Origin of use in anger

By extension, from fire in anger.

Questions about use in anger

What does use in anger mean?
Use in anger means used for its intended purpose, as opposed to e.g. practice or testing.
What part of speech is use in anger?
Use in anger is a verb.
What is the past tense of use in anger?
The past tense of use in anger is used in anger.

Words near use in anger in the dictionary

  1. use
  2. use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
  3. use and wont
  4. use case
  5. use cases
  6. use in anger
  7. use it
  8. use it or lose it
  9. use one's coconut
  10. use one's head
  11. use one's loaf

Source and license

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