slow burn

noun

Informal.

1. a gradual building up of anger, as opposed to an immediate outburst.

   I did a slow burn as the conversation progressed.

slow burn

noun

1. a steadily penetrating show of anger or contempt

Idioms and Phrases

Slowly increasing anger. It is often put as do a slow burn, meaning “gradually grow angrier,” as in I did a slow burn when he kept me waiting for three hours. The burn in this idiom comes from burn up in the sense of “make furious.” The term was first cited in 1938 and was closely associated with comedian Edgar Kennedy.

Example Sentences

Is there a specific challenge with crafting a slow burn in the streaming era?

From Los Angeles Times

Is there such a thing as a “slow burn” satire?

From Salon

Susan Matthews: I learned about maternity homes when I was doing research on my season of Slow Burn on the history of Roe v.

From Slate

How do you capture that sense of the slow burn?

From Los Angeles Times

Joe Mungo Reed’s second novel, ‘Hammer,’ is a slow burn of dangerous liaisons revolving around a Russian oligarch who comes to oppose Vladimir Putin.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• acrimony 
• animosity 
• annoyance 
• antagonism 
• displeasure 
• enmity 
• exasperation 
• fury 
• hatred 
• impatience 
• indignation 
• ire 
• irritation 
• outrage 
• passion 
• rage 
• resentment 
• temper 
• violence