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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Offense; resentment: took umbrage at their rudeness.
  2. n. Something that affords shade.
  3. n. Shadow or shade. See Synonyms at shade.
  4. n. A vague or indistinct indication; a hint.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Shade; a shadow; obscurity.
  2. n. That which affords a shade; specifically, a screen of trees or foliage.
  3. n. A slight appearance; an apparition; a shade.
  4. n. The feeling of being overshadowed, as by another standing in one's light or way; hence, suspicion of slight or injury; offense; resentment.
  5. n. Synonyms See pique and animosity.
  6. To shade.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Feeling of anger or annoyance caused by something offensive.
  2. n. Feeling of doubt.
  3. n. Leaves that provide shade, as the foliage of trees
  4. n. shadow, shade
  5. v. To displease or cause offense.
  6. v. To shade.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Shade; shadow; obscurity; hence, that which affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage.
  2. n. Shadowy resemblance; shadow.
  3. n. The feeling of being overshadowed; jealousy of another, as standing in one's light or way; hence, suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a feeling of anger caused by being offended

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, shade, from Old French, from Latin umbrāticum, neuter of umbrāticus, of shade, from umbra, shadow.

Examples

  • “-- The same base stratagem for annoying those against whom they have taken an umbrage is practiced still by choking the wells with sand or stones, or defiling them with putrid carcases.”

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

  • “A lot of people have gotten to the step of being emotionally invested in umbrage and are displacing the hostility of feeling like one is being deliberately ignored by those in power against the democratic party and even if the leaders wanted to throw some red meat to placate them and tell them they are heard, Presidents Lieberman and Nelson will take the opportunity to essentially speak for the Democratic Party and publicly try and ruin it for the sake of pissing on said base and thus retaining the love of the current media environment.”

    Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Beatings will continue until morale improves

  • “More and more, when politicians talk about government employees -- whether they are federal, state or local -- it is with the kind of umbrage ordinarily aimed at Wall Street financiers and convenience store bandits.”

    The Washington Post: Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly on government workers under political fire

  • “More and more, when politicians talk about government employees - whether they are federal, state or local- it is with the kind of umbrage ordinarily aimed at Wall Street financiers and convenience store bandits.”

    The Washington Post: Government workers under political fire

  • “• Government workers under political fire: More and more, when politicians talk about government employees - whether they are federal, state or local- it is with the kind of umbrage ordinarily aimed at Wall Street financiers and convenience store bandits.”

    The Washington Post: Obama orders new federal breastfeeding policy

  • “More and more, when politicians talk about government employees - whether they are federal, state or local - it is with the kind of umbrage ordinarily aimed at Wall Street financiers and convenience store bandits.”

    The Washington Post: Public servants feel sting of budget rancor

  • “Caribbean countries said they took "umbrage" and wanted to "put on record" their strong disapproval.”

    The Huffington Post: Joe Amon: The Beginning of the End for the War on Drugs?

  • “Or use one of the online ones, like the Free Dictionary or Merriam-Webster, which by the way defines 'umbrage' as "pique or resentment at some often fancied slight or insult".”

    Archive 2007-04-01

  • “So it's not -- it was not an uncharacteristic remark, and I think there is a certain amount of surprise that the French president took the kind of umbrage that he did.”

    CNN Transcript Jul 24, 2004

  • “Republican Sen. Doug Overbey of Maryville, who became emotional in debating the proposal, said he took "umbrage" at the suggestion that special interests control Supreme Court races.”

    The Memphis Daily News

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘umbrage’.

Comments

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  • ruzuzu I take umbrage at sionnach's refusal to bracket the bit about the parsnips. Aug 24, 2011

  • reesetee What? Umbrage!

    *flees* Aug 24, 2011

  • asylumhead003 You know, reesetee, you've been doing a lot of fleeing with umbrage. Aug 20, 2011

  • reesetee *hands out glowing green fufluns as a distraction*

    *snarfs up umbrage*

    *flees* Aug 20, 2011

  • PossibleUnderscore To take or not to take.....? Aug 19, 2011

  • asylumhead003 What is this blasphemy? Nuclear fufluns? Bah! Aug 19, 2011

  • ruzuzu Preposterous! What kind of sick mind could have dreamed up nuclear fufluns?
    *looks it up to see who first listed it*
    Oh... my bad.
    Yeah, watch out for that batch. Aug 18, 2011

  • dharma66 careful, those are nuclear!! Aug 17, 2011

  • ruzuzu No, no--you just startled me.
    *dusts off a fuflun and offers it to Punderscore* Aug 17, 2011

  • PossibleUnderscore Awww... Am I really that scary? Aug 17, 2011

  • ruzuzu Eek!
    *drops umbrage*
    *and fufluns* Aug 17, 2011

  • PossibleUnderscore Mmmmm. I need some umbrage right now.
    And some fufluns.
    And some sprinkles.
    Oh look! I've found ruzuzu.
    :D Aug 17, 2011

  • dontcry *nom, nom, nom* Aug 16, 2011

  • dontcry Bear: Only when I'm REALLY put-off. Aug 16, 2011

  • chained_bear Eeew! Dontcry, can you really secrete umbrage?!

    May I submit that sionnach's comment found itself happily transported via a copy/paste feature, and, like Alice of the Drink Me/Eat Me fame, became larger in the new box? Aug 16, 2011

  • ruzuzu *sneaks over to porch*
    *takes umbrage*
    *replaces it with fufluns*
    *leaves telltale trail of sprinkles* Aug 16, 2011

  • reesetee *hides Umbrage Sweeper* Aug 16, 2011

  • asylumhead003 You ought not to have told me the whereabouts of your emergency umbrage! I took umbrage because you were saving it for yourself. Luckily for you, I coud only carry half of it, and you still have some left. Aug 16, 2011

  • dontcry *has secreted some emergency umbrage under the porch* Aug 15, 2011

  • reesetee Oh, you'd think so, wouldn't you, asylumhead? Fortunately, I always travel with my Super 2000 Umbrage Sweeper.

    *sweeps up umbrage*

    *flees* Aug 15, 2011

  • ruzuzu I take umbrage.
    *yoink* Aug 15, 2011

  • asylumhead003 This is most irregular. I seem to have obstructed his umbrage pilfering! Aug 14, 2011

  • asylumhead003 *spontaneously materializes in reesetee's path, who runs into me, dropping umbrage all over the ground*

    Mwa, ha, ha, ha, ha! Aug 14, 2011

  • ruzuzu Umbrage!

    *takes up the chase* Aug 8, 2011

  • reesetee *swipe*

    A-ha! I have it!

    *flees* Aug 8, 2011

  • ruzuzu Never! Aug 8, 2011

  • reesetee Give it back, you umbrage thief! Aug 8, 2011

  • ruzuzu I take umbrage at reesetee's umbrage-taking. Ha! Aug 2, 2011

  • reesetee I've been seeing that big, weird font all over Wordnik since the new design rollout. Maybe it's sionnach's doing.... Jul 1, 2011

  • blafferty Goodness, sionnach's comment is in a larger font. What does this mean? Is it because the cloud he is sitting on is larger? Is he raising his voice but not yelling? Or is his voice bloated from scarfing the umbrage (with parsnips)? Jul 1, 2011

  • reesetee Ruzuzu, I just took a heaping helping of umbrage over on Real Hernesheir's profile page, so I'm in the lead until someone takes umbrage at my umbrage-taking. Jul 1, 2011

  • milosrdenstvi Brackets on "butter no parsnips with me", please! Ha, ha, ha! Jul 1, 2011

  • ruzuzu Umbrage! No one has answered my question about the last hand. Jul 1, 2011

  • yarb Were they true, they were highly extenuating, and were they a lie, they they but a mediocre sally - so of course they were heartily well meant.

    Your parsnips are not, thank God!, my responsibility. But I will do you the courtesy of my advice: smother the buggers in lard, basted with your own umbrage, and consume without compunction. Jul 1, 2011

  • sionnach

    By alluding to your extensive learning, I was paying you a compliment


    Pretty words, which might be considered extenuating, if they were true . But it is a simple matter to check their patent falsity. They butter no parsnips with me.

    I'm holding on to this fine dollop of umbrage*.

    Smiley-face. LOL

    *: which is, of course, entirely phony. Because it's been a long time since we've had a good marathon of phony umbrage taking Jul 1, 2011

  • yarb But one learns from one's mistakes, n'est-ce pas, mon amie? By alluding to your extensive learning, I was paying you a compliment - so pray return that umbrage, which I believe was withdrawn from the fell swoop page. Jul 1, 2011

  • sionnach I'm taking me some umbrage over a gratuitous drive-by snark by yarb a few days back, where he made a comment along these lines:

    "Wrong, sionnach, and not for the first time, either" (my emphasis).

    Was it really necessary to add that last part, smarty mac yarbles? Huh? Jun 30, 2011

  • ruzuzu Hey! Who won the last hand? Jun 30, 2011

  • hernesheir We'll hae nae crinkie-winkie to-day, thank you. Jun 1, 2011

  • Noelle Knight "'In the meantime, to finish our conversation, whoever stuffed the corpse in the closet meant to saddle Alcide with the blame, since Jerry Falcon had made a blatant pass at Sookie in the bar the night before, and Alcide had taken umbrage.'" -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris Feb 5, 2011

  • ruzuzu Umbrage! I wanted my fufluns with grape riffles. Jan 29, 2011

  • reesetee Deal me in, dontcry.

    Any of those fufluns with umbrage topping left? Feb 6, 2010

  • ruzuzu I'll bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't you? Feb 5, 2010

  • yarb I can't stand fufluns. He or she is by far my least favourite Etruscan deity.

    What did the Etruscans ever do for us, anyway? Feb 5, 2010

  • PossibleUnderscore *deals* Nothing beats five-card umbrage. *deals*

    Ok. Out of peanuts, and we've never had fried onions (boohoo!). Sorry. But we do have plenty of fufluns. In fact, we have fufluns in such abundance, you make take them at will. Enjoy. Feb 5, 2010

  • dontcry I relish a good game of five-card umbrage. Who's in? Feb 5, 2010

  • yarb Umbrage with fried onions please, and hold the relish. Feb 5, 2010

  • dontcry Pass the peanuts. Feb 5, 2010

  • dontcry I'll take one umbrage, please. Feb 5, 2010

  • reesetee Give me two umbrage. Feb 4, 2010

  • PossibleUnderscore *deals*

    And one for me, extra umbrage. Feb 4, 2010

  • ruzuzu I'll take umbrage and two cards, please. Feb 4, 2010

  • PossibleUnderscore I take umbrage at your umbrage and failure to accept the blatant truth. Dontcry won and that's the end of all of us.

    Another round anyone? Feb 4, 2010

  • ruzuzu I take umbrage at being called a loser. Feb 4, 2010

  • PossibleUnderscore Noooooo!Straight umbrage for me.
    And on that matter, I may deal out some extra umbrage for all the other losers. Feb 3, 2010

  • dontcry Read 'em and weep. A royal umbrage.
    *smirks and twirls invisible mustache* Feb 3, 2010

  • ruzuzu Call. Feb 3, 2010

  • PossibleUnderscore Call. Feb 3, 2010

  • reesetee I'll see your ten and I'll raise you 20 umbrage. Feb 3, 2010

  • dontcry Vegas takes umbrage???
    Wha.... gimme ten on umbrage to win. Feb 3, 2010

  • milosrdenstvi YES -- and even completely innocent people, when told to "look up umbrage", will spell it a la the Potteress. MDJRKL! Dec 1, 2009

  • rolig Ta, Bil. Dec 1, 2009

  • bilby JK Rowling, Potter series authoress. Dec 1, 2009

  • rolig What or who is JKR, PotentiallyEmphatic? Dec 1, 2009

  • PossibleUnderscore 1 year later: I'd like to point out that JKR has, to a certain extent, destroyed this word among the younger generation. You can make a perfectly decent, if not forceful, statement or complaint: "I take umbrage etc..." and your audience will roll on the floor laughing because they have an image of you taking Professor Umbridge.
    Of course it depends on the general age and maturity of your audience, but it annoys me rather a bit. Dec 1, 2009

  • chained_bear Was it also a marathon? Apr 20, 2009

  • reesetee Congratulations. The important thing is that it was completely phony. Apr 20, 2009

  • milosrdenstvi I took umbrage the other day after someone made a pun about "shady comments". I was very pleased with myself. Apr 20, 2009

  • tbtabby Oh sure, take all the umbrage! Don't leave any for us! Mar 28, 2009

  • reesetee I take umbrage at that, c_b.

    *too tired to be energetic about umbrage-taking*

    See "umbrage alert" tag. Mar 16, 2009

  • chained_bear I'd add a tag, but I probably shouldn't. Perhaps reesetee can be in charge of umbrage tags. Mar 16, 2009

  • bilby Shsh, it's still brewing. Mar 16, 2009

  • plethora There needs to be a list, or tags to record the many locations of our umbrage-taking. Mar 16, 2009

  • reesetee For even more fun, also see fufluns and Hershey. Also, rufkm. No, I'm serious. Mar 16, 2009

  • pterodactyl You're welcome! And let me just mention marathon of phony umbrage taking, a triumph of the Wordie art and one of my favorite pages on the site. Feb 25, 2009

  • chained_bear Umbrage has an official website. (Thanks to ptero for linking it to rufkm.) Feb 25, 2009

  • corylusavellana I always think the Archers should live here. Jan 10, 2009

  • frindley Oh happy, I think. Better to get people using a word. Spelling is easily fixed; even Microsoft can do it. Although apparently not South Australian(?) sub-editors. Oct 20, 2008

  • kewpid Should we be happy that JKR reinvigorated this word, or be appalled that as a result no-one can spell it? Oct 20, 2008

  • plethora I'm not sure I knew the word pre-Harry Potter, to be honest. I was but 12 when Dolores made her debut.

    The one and only, bilb. What a rag. Oct 20, 2008

  • bilby 'Snot the 'Tiser is it, pleth? Oct 20, 2008

  • frindley Is it all post-Harry Potter, or did you observe the misspelling before that thoroughly odious woman arrived on the scene? (Miss Umbridge, that is, not Ms Rowling.) Oct 20, 2008

  • plethora I take umbrage at seeing this written umbridge, which happens disappointingly often. One columnist I know of does it regularly. Oct 20, 2008

  • frindley "Rarely has it been thought that the way to show you deserve to be the most powerful person on earth is to demonstrate you're also the touchiest. This presidential campaign has been an offense fest. From the indignation over a fashion writer's observation about Hillary Clinton's cleavage, to the outraged response to the infamous Obama New Yorker cover, to the histrionics over "lipstick on a pig," taking offense has been a political leitmotif. Slate's John Dickerson observed that umbrage is this year's hottest campaign tactic. And we can assume it will reach an operatic crescendo in these final weeks before Election Day."
    Emily Yoffe in Slate Oct 20, 2008

‘umbrage’ has been looked up 3602 times, loved by 19 people, added to 139 lists, commented on 85 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.