spleen.

1. Anger or spite, often harbored inwardly and later expressed bitterly.

2. An abdominal organ that filters blood, removes worn-out red cells, and supports immune function.

3. A mood of melancholy or dejection, especially in older literary usage.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• vent one's spleen
• partisan spleen
• a burst of spleen

On the page

His polite letters gave way to an outburst of spleen against his former patron.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic literary. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Emotional and historical melancholy uses usually uncountable. Anatomical singular spleen; plural spleens. Commonness: moderately common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Full entry read: abdominal blood-filtering/immune organ; anger/ill will often suppressed, with wrathful release of latent spite in synonym note; archaic melancholy; obsolete seat of passions and whim. Three retained senses, historical overflow flagged. Figurative emotion primary for writer usefulness; no false physiological cause of anger. Individually reviewed for a precise writer function, not selected merely for rarity. Original definitions/examples; commonness editorial, not a corpus statistic. Genre suitability does not establish inherent fear or emotional intensity. Writing functions: suppressed ill will finding release, distinguishing emotional from anatomical meaning.