Umbrage
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A feeling of anger or annoyance caused by something offensive. countable, uncountable
"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."
- 2 a feeling of anger caused by being offended wordnet
- 3 A feeling of doubt. countable, uncountable
- 4 Leaves that provide shade, as the foliage of trees. countable, uncountable
"It was a relief to change the cheerful meadow for the dark umbrage of the forest which they now entered."
- 5 Shadow; shade. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"[...] but in the verity of extolment I take him to be a soul of great article and his infusion of such dearth and rareness as, to make true diction of him, his semblable in his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more."
- 1 To displease or cause offense. transitive
- 2 To shade. transitive
Example
More examples"The queen took umbrage at remarks made in the press about her insensitivity to the death of the princess."
Etymology
From Middle French ombrage (“umbrage”), from Old French ombrage, from Latin umbrāticus (“in the shade”), from umbra (“shadow, shade”).
Related phrases
More for "umbrage"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.