Apoplectic

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(pronounced ap-uh-plek-tik)  adjective

Definition

(other than the senses to do with apoplexy or stroke) extremely angry; furious; filled with indignation; enraged.

Main Example

• For those with an appetite for juicy political news, the New Year started off with a torrent of tidbits. Michael Wolff’s new book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” became an instant sensation, dominating news headlines for at least the first ten days in January. Perhaps the one item in the book that made the White House most livid was Steve Bannon’s take on Donald Trump Jr.’s now famous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with some Russians officials, which Bannon describes as being “treasonous and unpatriotic.” Understandably, this remark by his former confidante and strategic advisor made President Trump apoplectic, triggering the following statement from him: “(When Bannon was fired), he not only lost his job, he lost his mind!”

Workplace Examples

• It’s not a good time to see the boss. He’s in a very bad mood thanks to some pretty nasty developments all morning; he’s especially apoplectic over the news that we’ve lost the AT&T account.
• To your remark that Jim is always cool and collected: Well, that’s because you’ve never been around when he is angry. Having been here a long time, I’ve observed Jim become so incensed, so apoplectic with rage, that all of us in this department become sort of terrified, fearing that he’ll burst an artery or something, and that we’ll have to call 911 for an ambulance.

Other Examples

• this author saying in a recent speech: “I am astonished, and confounded, to see so many of my fellow Americans who otherwise become apoplectic about any new threats to our democracy and our security being so blasé and so indifferent when it comes to the ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the last presidential election.”
• a coworker commenting: “Some of the managers, especially those seated way at the back, went apoplectic when it was announced that the upcoming retreat has been postponed by a day--that this time it’ll be on a Saturday instead of a Friday as has been the custom in the past. I guess some of them had exciting plans for that weekend.”
• a colleague saying: “Stephanie blows a fuse over the smallest things. For instance, she’ll go apoplectic if a vehicle switches to her lane without signaling. I keep telling Stephanie that all this extreme anger is not good for her heart. You know she’s already had a quadruple bypass!”
• a manager positively apoplectic over an employee’s discrimination complaint
• during the 2016 presidential election season, many Democrats who were supporters of Bernie Sanders waxing apoplectic after learning of the secret dealings between the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign
• Apparently, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a furious temper. According to a guest on the BBC, the irascible Brown even hurls furniture when in a rage and once, as the then-occupant of 10 Downing Street, he tried to use an office stapler while still apoplectic, and he ended up accidentally piercing one of his fingers with a staple.

© 2018 V.J. Singal
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