Giuliani was apoplectic when the gangster fought off murder and racketeering charges and sauntered out of court in March 1987 after a sensational acquittal to bask in the TV lights. Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, June 2000The quarrel was splendidly acrimonious. When Charles Perrault, now remembered for his fairy tales, rose in the French Academy in 1687 to champion modern authors, Nicolas Boileau, the arbiter of taste, waxed so apoplectic he lost his voice. David Coward, New York Times Book Review, 27 Apr. 1997Don Hewitt, the program's venerable executive producer, becomes positively apoplectic when I mention the subject during a conversation about Amanpour's job negotiations. The three networks had offered her the opportunity to contribute to their evening news shows as well as to their newsmagazines. Leslie Bennetts, Vanity Fair, September 1996 She was positively apoplectic with anger when she realized she had been cheated. the coach was so apoplectic when the player missed the free throw that he threw his clipboard onto the court
Recent Examples on the WebDrillers and their trade associations are predictably apoplectic. Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 8 Sep. 2022 The fans’ apoplectic state about Baalke reached a new level the past few days, especially after a jump-the-gun tweet Tuesday night by one fan indicated a Leftwich hire was imminent. Gene Frenette, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2022 Carlson was spending the week in Budapest, delivering each day’s American headline news in his selectively apoplectic style. Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 27 June 2022 Summer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 – her inclusion setting off the usual apoplectic bellowing from those who decry any artist not tethered to an electric guitar. Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 17 May 2022 Sometimes, as in Bostock, his opinions will leave conservatives apoplectic. Matt Ford, The New Republic, 27 Apr. 2022 An unscientific polling of my Gen-X friends, who have supported this team since its heyday in the 1980s, revealed apoplectic reaction and disbelief that a two-year process to reboot the organization birthed ... Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 2 Feb. 2022 There is no doubt, however, that Trump will be apoplectic that his three Supreme Court nominees, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, did not publicly dissent from denying his bid to keep his West Wing records secret. Stephen Collinson, CNN, 20 Jan. 2022 Our allies have been apoplectic and haven't been shy about sharing their anger and dismay with journalists, many of whom are equally furious about colleagues in Afghanistan facing a dismal future. Damon Linker, The Week, 26 Aug. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
French or Late Latin; French apoplectique, from Late Latin apoplecticus, from Greek apoplēktikos, from apoplēssein — more at apoplexy