Do you want to learn new ways to say “angry”? Then, this article is for you. You can expand your vocabulary with new expressions for your B2 course.
1. To get cross
You probably know this word as a verb that means to go to the other side of the street:
“I cross the street.”
But this word is also associated with the idea of being “angry”. For example, if you say: “When he ignored me, I got really cross”, this doesn’t mean that you crossed the street to speak to your friend. It means that you got angry.
Also, if you cross somebody, it means you make them angry.
“He’s a dangerous man. I wouldn’t cross him” means “I wouldn’t make him angry”.
2. To get upset
When you get upset, you get angry or sad. The precise meaning depends on the context. For example, if you say “when I lost the only photo I had of my grandparents, I got upset”, that probably means you got sad. But if you say “when he took my favourite toy, I got upset”, that probably means angry. For the precise meaning, you have to judge the context!
3. To get mad
Mad means crazy, but colloquially it can also mean angry, especially in the USA and followed by the preposition “at”. Again, it depends on the context.
“That man is jumping off the roof of a tall building. He is mad.” In this context, the man is crazy.
But if you say “I am mad at you because you broke my bike”, this means that you are angry, not crazy.
4. To hit the roof
Imagine that you are at home and you get so angry that you could take off like a rocket towards the sky. What would happen? You would hit the roof! Of course, you don’t physically hit the roof. We mean this in a figurative way.
“When I told him the bad news, he hit the roof.” He didn’t take stick to hit the roof, he got angry.
Now that you know different ways of saying someone is angry, try not to hit the roof!
