A vehement reaction of anger, shock, and moral indignation at something felt to be beyond acceptable limits.
A vehement reaction of anger, shock, and moral indignation at something felt to be beyond acceptable limits; also the offending act itself.
Moral anger like indignation, but stronger, more shocked, and more explosive — the trigger is something felt to be past all acceptable bounds (its root means “passing beyond reasonable limits”). Where indignation is principled and contained, outrage is vehement and often collective and vocal; more intense than indignation but more morally framed than raw fury or rage (which are about loss of control). Note the dual sense: it names both the emotion and the provoking act.
A vehement reaction of anger, shock, and moral indignation.
The offending act itself — an act of gross injustice, cruelty, or violation.
The word names both the feeling and its cause.
c. 1300, “evil deed, offense; act beyond reasonable limits,” from Old French outrage, from Vulgar Latin *ultraticum “excess,” from Latin ultra “beyond.” Literally “the passing beyond reasonable bounds” — NOT from out + rage, which is a later folk etymology.
Narrowed from “any excess / offense” toward “violent excess,” and from 1769 toward injuries to feelings and principles. A genuine modern development is sourced: research on “moral outrage” (e.g. Crockett, Nature Human Behaviour 2017; Brady et al., Science Advances 2021) defines it as anger at a moral violation plus a wish to punish, and documents how online platforms amplify its expression.