恼羞成怒
- Literal
- irritation and shame turn into fury
- Figurative
- To lash out in anger because you have been embarrassed or caught out, shame curdling into rage; usually said critically of someone else.
Where does 恼羞成怒 come from?
It doesn't come from any particular story: the idiom describes an emotional process everyone recognizes. 恼 is annoyance, 羞 the shame of looking bad, and 成怒 says that both "turn into anger." The idea is that someone who can't bear the shame vents it as anger, often at whoever exposed them. It is a reproachful expression, so it is normally said of other people, and it tends to describe the reaction of someone who has been caught in a lie, beaten in an argument, or criticized in public.
How is 恼羞成怒 used? Two examples
- 我戳穿了他的谎话，他恼羞成怒，摔门就走。
I called out his lie, and, stung and furious, he stormed out and slammed the door.
- 有网友指出视频造假，博主竟然恼羞成怒，开口就骂人。
When viewers pointed out the video was faked, the blogger actually flew into a rage and started hurling insults.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
