ranted; ranting; rants
1
intransitive
: to complain loudly, angrily, or unreasonably
… films and books ranting against corporations and the gun lobby …—Joel Stein
"You can rant and rave all you want," she said, "but it's not going to change things."
2
transitive + intransitive
: to talk or recite in a noisy, excited, or bombastic manner
… barkers ranting at the crowds …—Gerald Shapiro
… the actor who rants Shakespeare …—H. E. Clurman
ranter
noun
1
a(1)
: a long, angry speech or piece of writing : tirade
went on a rant about the price of gas
… in Walden's transcendental rants I found all my angsty teenage convictions gloriously and authoritatively ratified.—M. Allen Cunningham
(2)
: a bombastic extravagant speech
… two other boys … happened on a street orator; tiring of the rant, one boy pushed the speaker's hat off with a stick …—Oscar Wilde
b
: bombastic extravagant language
The speeches were full of rant, cant, and vanity …—Ursula K. Le Guin
2
dialectal British
: a rousing good time
rant·er
ˈran-tər
plural -s
1
: one that rants
especially
: a noisy bombastic speaker
2
usually capitalized
a
: a member of a 17th century pantheistic, antinomian, and highly individualistic religious group in England
b
: a member of the Primitive Methodists who seceded from the Wesleyan Methodists as being deficient in fervor and zeal
—usually used in derision and in allusion to the loud tones of their preaching and responses
Cite this Entry
“Rant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rant. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.
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