Wrath, n.
Etymology: [OE. wrathe, wraÞ\'ede, wrethe, wræ\'ebthe, AS. wræ\'ebtho, fr. wra\'eb wroth; akin to Icel. reithi wrath. See Wroth, a.]
1. Violent anger; vehement exasperation; indignation; rage; fury; ire. Wrath is a fire, and jealousy a weed. Spenser. When the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased. Esther ii. 1. Now smoking and frothing Its tumult and wrath in. Southey.
2. The effects of anger or indignation; the just punishment of an offense or a crime. "A revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Rom. xiii. 4.
Syn. -- Anger; fury; rage; ire; vengeance; indignation; resentment; passion. See Anger.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Wrath, a.
See Wroth. [Obs.]
Wrath, v. t.
To anger; to enrage; -- also used impersonally. [Obs.] "I will not wrathen him." Chaucer. If him wratheth, be ywar and his way shun. Piers Plowman.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for wrath; he lists it under anger.
Where he writes about it:
Wrath is deep and perhaps vengeful displeasure, as when the people of Nazareth were "filled with wrath" at the plain words of Jesus (Luke iv, 28); it may, however, simply express the culmination of righteous indignation without malice in a pure being; as, the wrath of God. — from anger