choler
Americannoun
-
irascibility; anger; wrath; irritability.
-
Old Physiology. yellow bile.
-
Obsolete. biliousness.
noun
-
anger or ill humour
-
archaic one of the four bodily humours; yellow bile See humour
-
obsolete biliousness
Usage
What does choler mean? Choler means anger, irritability, or a generally bad temperament.Choler is more commonly used in its adjective form, choleric, meaning easily angered or generally bad-tempered. People described as choleric are grouchy all the time and prone to getting into arguments, often for very little reason.The word choler comes from the medieval notion that people’s personalities are based on the balance of four different types of elemental fluids in their body, called humors. One of these was called choler—another name for yellow bile. A choleric person was thought to be generally irritable due to the amount of choler in their body.Example: She was the kind of choleric person who would get into a fight over anything and everything.
Etymology
Origin of choler
1350–1400; Middle English colera < Medieval Latin, Latin cholera < Greek choléra cholera
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Throughout Seçkin’s debut, Sibel fixates on the ancient notion of the body’s four humors — blood, phlegm, black bile and choler — as a means of self-diagnosis for a persistent headache.
From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2022
Watson is in a perpetual state of stiff-necked choler tinged with snobbery — “I am better educated, more wealthy and stronger than you are,” he tells Bea, who is unmoved.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2021
Rockin’ the Suburbs offered no respite as it detailed the silent, hopeless choler of the human trash heap.
From The Guardian • Aug. 18, 2015
Drury’s analysis of “The Collar” — its title a triple pun on collar, choler and caller — reveals both the strength and weakness of his book.
From Washington Post
My choler was so risen, I longed for nothing more than confrontation; my fingers demanded engagement.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.