Word to describe sitting in quiet anger

Question

I need a word to describe someone who has been told something they don't like, but they have to accept it.

EX:

"We need to travel all the way to Montreal to pick up my sister," Mom says.

Dad sits back in his seat, and __________. "Fine," he says.

Answer 1

As others have mentioned in the comments, the word that my dialect uses for restrained-but-hot-with-anger is

Stew

"We need to travel all the way to Montreal to pick up my sister," Mom says.

Dad sits back in his seat and stews.

"Fine," he says.

^{It's worth noting that this might be an Americanism. MW provides the appropriate "be in a state of suppressed agitation, worry, or resentment", but Oxford Dictionaries considers stewing to only be a synonym for worrying.}

Stew's a step under boiling, which is a step under Mr Grimm's fuming, which is a step under ab2's seething, which is properly a much more violent emotion than is appropriate with your example, unless Aunt Agnes crashed Dad's Honda while giving roadhead to her flavor-of-the-month boytoy the last time she was in town and then told the teenagers about it. Sulking is for little kids and suggests Dad is being petulant and petty in his annoyance.

For what it's worth, there are many more descriptive actions that would serve you better if this were some kind of short story. Glaring, staring out the window, rolling his eyes, sighing, counting to ten, 'deadpans' instead of 'says'... any of them work a little better than a word for having restrained anger. Those words will be more appropriate for describing his mood later during the actual trip.

Answer 2

seethe, from Collins English Dictionary

When you are seething, you are very angry about something but do not express your feelings about it.

• She took it calmly at first but under the surface was seething.

• She put a hand on her hip, grinning derisively, while I seethed with rage

In the OP's example:

Dad sits back in his seat, seething or

Dad sits back in his seat and seethes.

Answer 3

Fume is another possibility. It can be used to describe someone being angry in a way that refers to their internal mental state, rather than their actions or behaviour, as described in the question about sitting in quiet anger.

From Wiktionary:

To feel or express great anger.

He's still fuming about the argument they had yesterday.

The literal meaning of "fume" is to emit fumes, and can mean something having an internal fire that you can't see and you only notice the fumes coming out.

Answer 4

One such verb is simmer.

Dad sits back in his seat, and simmers. "Fine," he says.

ODO:

simmer
VERB

1 (of water or food) stay just below the boiling point while being heated.
‘the goulash was simmering slowly on the stove’
[figurative] ‘the disagreement simmered for years and eventually boiled over’

1.2 Be in a state of suppressed anger or excitement.

‘I simmered a bit and put her remark down to her lack of understanding of classic cars.’

Answer 5

Sounds like sulking to me. From Oxford Dictionaries:

sulk

VERB [NO OBJECT]. Be silent, morose, and bad-tempered out of annoyance or disappointment.

Some other definitions emphasize that the silence might be attention-seeking.

So you could say

Dad sits back in his seat, and sulks. "Fine," he says.

(Coincidentally, the example sentence for sulk in Google's boxed definition at the moment is "Dad was sulking," apparently a shortened form of one of Oxford's examples.)

Note that while I wouldn't hesitate to use it in your situation, it's quite likely that "Dad" would find the description insulting, as there are some connotations of childishness. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere (probably dialogue in a novel) something like "children sulk; men brood"¹ or "I [as an adult/a manly man] don't sulk, I brood." This term might suit if you want to be more diplomatic:

1. VERB _{^{[NO OBJECT]}} Think deeply about something that makes one unhappy, angry, or worried.

This works especially well if you want to emphasize Dad's inner thoughts (something like "Dad is ruminating on his anger"), whereas sulk is better if you want to emphasize the outer behavior ("Dad is sitting in quiet anger").

There are many synonyms for sulk that you might want to look into, though I think sulk is likely the best for of those in common use.

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Since you mention in a comment

I could have sworn it started with a "G" like glowered, but I don't know. I only ran into that word once. I thought it was some obscure word you'd need to memorize a 2,000,000 word dictionary to know it even existed.

I'll point out that there really are a remarkable number of gl-/gr- terms with similar or related meanings, such as gloom, glum, grump, grumble, grouch, grouse, groan, grizzle, and your own glower (all of which can be used as verbs). Browsing through the Oxford English Dictionary turns up some more obscure examples, like glump, glout, grumme, and grutch. Perhaps one of these, or another, similarly obscure term is what you recall.

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Added:

If you're open to a slight rephrasing, huff might work in one of its forms:

Dad sits back in his seat in a huff. "Fine," he says.

Dad sits back in his seat. "Fine," he says with a huff.

Dad sits back in his seat. "Fine," he huffs.

And so forth.

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¹ Which, all those brooding anti-heroes notwithstanding, is kind of ironic, etymologically.

Answer 6

Smolders (or British, smoulders) is my choice. The word can be used, of course, of a literal fire which burns with little smoke and no flame.It can also be used metaphorically, however, to describe a person's suppressed emotional state.

The dad you describe is perhaps suppressing his desire to protest but for whatever reason suppresses it, as though the anger is just below the surface and could, with the least provocation, explode into a tirade!

Answer 7

Begrudgingly.

She sat there and begrudgingly accepted what she didn't want to hear.

in other words: the person doesn't like it (is in some way disgruntled) but knows they have to accept what is being said.

Dictionary.com/browse/begrudgingly . ...."to be reluctant to give, grant, or allow: She did not begrudge the money spent on her children's education."

Answer 8

This makes use of words that are either my suggestions or originally given by other people in their answers.

Dad resigned to¹ his seat, sulking². "Fine," he muttered through clenched teeth³.

Note that it might be a bit too wordy and moody. You yourself can similarly combine different suggestions to make your own version of this sentence.

Credits

These are links to the source answer.

1. resigned to — suggested by I wrestled a bear once.

2. sulking — suggested by 1006a.

3. muttered through clenched teeth — suggested by PinkyTune (i.e. me)

Answer 9

Resign - accept that something undesirable cannot be avoided.

Dad resigned to his seat. "Fine," he says.

Relent - cease resistance.

Dad sits back in his seat. "Fine," he relents.

Capitulate - cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand.

Dad sits back in his seat, capitulated. "Fine," he says.

Acquiesce - accept something reluctantly but without protest.

Dad sits back in his seat. "Fine," he acquiesces.

Answer 10

"We need to travel all the way to Montreal to pick up my sister," Mom says.

Dad sits back in his seat, resigned / subdued / passively aggressive; "Fine," he says.

Answer 11

I'd probably say grumbles based on what my spouse does when I have similar news.

grum·ble ˈɡrəmbəl/ verb 3rd person present: grumbles

1. complain or protest about something in a bad-tempered but typically muted way.

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"We need to travel all the way to Montreal to pick up my sister," Mom says.

Dad sits back in his seat, and grumbles. "Fine," he says.

Answer 12

Winced

Dad sat back in his seat and winced.

Definition (Oxford): Make a slight involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of pain or distress

Answer 13

Pout - Push one's lips or one's bottom lip forward as an expression of petulant annoyance or in order to make oneself look sexually attractive. (OED)

This may apply more to a child than a dad, but still works in some cases.