Home British & World English rant

Definition of rant in English:

rant

verb

[no object]

  • Speak or shout at length in an angry, impassioned way.

    ‘she was still ranting on about the unfairness of it all’
    • ‘Among other topics we discussed, she ranted about some of the things my stepdad does that drive her nuts.’
    • ‘I ranted at length about this in an article published earlier this year in Bermuda's daily newspaper.’
    • ‘I remember writing a letter to the editor, where I ranted about the state of literature in this country.’
    • ‘I lost my temper and ranted and raged for 10 minutes, then jammed the phone down, and felt very, very bad.’
    • ‘One frail elderly man ranted on at length about a catalogue of mistakes on his account, some of which went back to 1939.’
    • ‘This is to the moron who ranted about the chicken commercials.’
    • ‘As you may recall I ranted about this a week or so ago.’
    • ‘I've ranted about this issue before, and my opinion remains unchanged.’
    • ‘He ranted on like this for several minutes, close to tears, while Jimmy Saville grinned and played with his jewellery.’
    • ‘After dealing with the young man I ranted about a few months ago, it's certainly a welcome change.’
    • ‘Thank you, Mr Cochrane, for publishing what many of us have ranted about within our own circles for the last few months.’
    • ‘I then got distracted by the real world and I ranted about power stations.’
    • ‘For some reason he ranted on and on about the fact that they'd been promised a move to new offices, and it wouldn't happen.’
    • ‘He ranted about my disregard for the law and my campaign to drive music retailers out of business.’
    • ‘He assaulted nurses who tried to calm and restrain him and left other workers cowering as he ranted at them.’
    • ‘The rest came back about an hour or so later, and we ranted about the wedding for many an hour.’
    • ‘Kitsumi ranted, walking back and forth silently and mindlessly along the sidewalk.’
    • ‘He ranted for years about how it should not be winner-takes-all.’
    • ‘Josh ranted, too absorbed in his words to notice the incredulous expression his companion was wearing.’
    • ‘Theodore was still ranting angrily under his breath about Matt and Lidia, but she didn't mind.’
    hold forth, go on and on, deliver a tirade, rant and rave, fulminate, sound off, spout, pontificate, trumpet, bluster, declaim
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noun

  • A spell of ranting; a tirade.

    ‘his rants against organized religion’
    • ‘He embarks on a rant about a late Evening Standard critic and fiddles with his lighter to calm down.’
    • ‘As long as their rants were confined to forums and poorly organised rallies, no one really cared.’
    • ‘As it's already been pointed out, this latest diatribe is even less logical than his previous rants.’
    • ‘She couldn't bear any more of the main character's long-winded rants about pineapples.’
    • ‘So if you're looking for snarling rants about politics and war, come back in the New Year and we'll see what happens.’
    • ‘She was used to Maria's rants and tirades, having picked her up from every session ever since she got a drivers' license.’
    • ‘Didn't she figure out that her right-wing rants will play poorly here?’
    • ‘But when these rants are offered abroad as legitimate criticisms of this country, it is a cultural crime.’
    • ‘Indeed, the vitriolic rants of several pundits smacks of jealousy.’
    • ‘As if concerned that his rants may appear too smug or self-important, he tempers them with spoonfuls of self-loathing.’
    • ‘Hey, it's a way to ensure my rants reach even more people!’
    • ‘She hated the rants of Burrell in the Daily Mirror.’
    • ‘I'll have rants about bra shopping and other subjects later, I'm sure.’
    • ‘Women scorn Clint and Clint scorns women, writing misogynist rants under the byline ‘Yellow Dog’.’
    • ‘Ann and I have our differences on the issues, but I personally appreciate her psychotic rants.’
    • ‘Leave the room now if you're fed up with my almost monthly rants about the impossibility of the property market in the UK.’
    • ‘My best rants happen at these times of low motivation.’
    • ‘You'd almost think Ewen McKenzie has been reading his occasional rugby rants.’
    • ‘This year, I'm transcribing these rants in case someone somewhere might want to read them.’
    • ‘I usually prefer to ignore his rants but this is really too much.’
    tirade, harangue, diatribe, broadside, verbal onslaught
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Phrases

    rant and rave

    • Shout and complain angrily and at length.

      ‘stop ranting and raving for a minute and start being honest with yourself’
      • ‘I began to rant and rave angrily, in a loud voice.’
      • ‘‘You can't rant and rave; you can't scream and put people in shock, though I have worked with directors who do that and it's pretty scary,’ Garry says.’
      • ‘I could rant and rave about it but that wouldn't make a difference.’
      • ‘Only this afternoon did I rant and rave about these designs.’
      • ‘I rant and rave at the screen, decrying the dumbing down of what used to be a medium for entertaining and educating.’
      • ‘So when I used to rant and rave about it, it was because I did not have first hand knowledge.’
      • ‘Are you tired of hearing students rant and rave about how their tuition fees are too high?’
      • ‘People seem to think he is not passionate enough, but it's just that he doesn't rant and rave.’
      • ‘He ranted and raved, and gave the same lines again and again.’
      • ‘‘Joe called our head offices himself and ranted and raved about it,’ says a top editor at one of the weeklies.’
      hold forth, go on and on, deliver a tirade, rant and rave, fulminate, sound off, spout, pontificate, trumpet, bluster, declaim
      View synonyms

Origin

Late 16th century (in the sense ‘behave boisterously’): from Dutch ranten ‘talk nonsense, rave’.

Pronunciation

rant

/rant/