all the rage
all the rage
Meaning
- When something is the height of popularity.
- It implies that the fashion will be short lived and has no staying power.
Example Sentences
- My parents used to love the Beatles. They were all the rage when they were teenagers.
- These bell-bottom pants were all the rage in the 1960s.
- Tribal tattoos used to be all the rage. Now people are just stuck with silly symbols on their bodies.
- Don’t worry about the new restaurant down the street. It is all the rage now, but the customers will come back to us eventually.
Origin and History
The word rage comes from the Latin word “rabies”. It means “madness”. The rage has been used to describe something that is in fashion dating back to 1785.
1785 Europ. Mag. VIII. 473 The favourite phrases… The Rage, the Thing, the Twaddle, and the Bore.
Because it is not clear whether “the rage” was used, the first evidence of the phrase “all the rage” was in 1834.
1834 Lytton Last Days of Pompeii I. i. 173 Sylla is said to have transported to Italy the worship of the Egyptian Isis. It soon became ‘the rage’—and was peculiarly in vogue with the Roman ladies.
Similar Idioms
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Share your opinions1 Opinion
Hello, I would like to point out that the third example (“Tribal tattoos used to be all the rage. Now people are just stuck with silly symbols on their bodies.”) used to illustrate the phrase “all the rage” on this page is insensitive to the fact that tribal tattoos are more than a fad, they are an integral part of many indigenous cultures. When engaged through a fad they are in fact cultural appropriation. You could come up with a much better example that does not trivialize or white-wash Indigenous customs and ways of being. Please consider removing this example. Thank you!
‒ Gabriella Weaver November 21, 2020