English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle French ombrage (umbrage),[1] from Old French ombrage, from Latin umbrāticus (in the shade), from umbra (shadow, shade).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈʌm.bɹɪd͡ʒ/
  • (file)

Noun edit

umbrage (countable and uncountable, plural umbrages)

  1. A feeling of anger or annoyance caused by something offensive.
    Synonyms: annoyance, displeasure, odium, offense, resentment, huff, miff, peeve, pique
    • 1796, George Washington, "Farewell Address", American Daily Advertiser:
      Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC:
      —He took umbrage at something or other, that muchinjured but on the whole eventempered person declared, I let slip.
    • 1960, Muriel Spark, chapter 10, in The Bachelors, London: Macmillan:
      She looked very neurotic, moving in a jerky way, her body giving little twitches of habitual umbrage.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VI:
      If she knew [a psychiatrist was] observing her son with a view to finding out if he was foggy between the ears, there would be umbrage on her part, or even dudgeon.
    • 2020 June 3, Wesley Morris, “The Videos That Rocked America. The Song That Knows Our Rage.”, in New York Times[2]:
      When the call is over, Cooper thanks her — for leashing the dog, but for also endangering him, for living down to herself, for quite a performance of umbrage.
  2. A feeling of doubt.
    Synonym: suspicion
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. Leaves that provide shade, as the foliage of trees.
  4. (obsolete) Shadow; shade.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

umbrage (third-person singular simple present umbrages, present participle umbraging, simple past and past participle umbraged)

  1. (transitive) To displease or cause offense.
  2. (transitive) To shade.

Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Arika Okrent (2019-07-05), “12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms”, in Mental Floss[1], Pocket, retrieved 2021-10-08

Middle French edit

Noun edit

umbrage m (plural umbrages)

  1. shadow