Rage that is intense, unrestrained, and frequently destructive.
Rage that is intense, unrestrained, and frequently destructive; also extreme fierceness or violence (“the storm's fury”).
At the high end of the family, a near-twin to rage: both point to a collapse of self-command under the sheer violence of feeling. Fury tilts toward the chaotic, destructive, engulfing quality and is the more literary of the two, extending readily to inhuman forces (the fury of the sea). It far outstrips plain anger and ire; it lacks wrath's specific vengeful purpose and indignation's righteous trigger. A mythological undertow (the avenging Furies) lends it a sense of relentless intensity.
Late 14c., first “one of the Furies, an avenging spirit,” then early 15c. “fierce passion of anger,” from Old French furie, from Latin furia “violent passion, rage, madness,” related to furere “to rage, be mad” (itself of uncertain deeper origin).
Entered English first as the mythological “Fury / avenging spirit” (late 14c.), then generalized within a generation to the abstract “fierce passion of anger” (early 15c.). No reliable recent-generation shift is sourced.