vent spleen

Meaning

1. 1phraseidiom

   to express anger or frustration, often by talking or writing in a forceful way

   Grammar: Used as an intransitive phrase; it does not take a direct object. You can say 'vent spleen on someone' but not 'vent spleen someone'.

   Patterns

   • vent spleen on someone
   • vent spleen about something

   After the meeting, she went for a walk to vent spleen about the unfair decision.

   He used his blog to vent spleen on the critics who had dismissed his work.

   Rather than argue, she wrote a long letter to vent spleen.

Common combinations

vent spleen on

He vented spleen on his colleagues after the project failed.

vent spleen about

She vented spleen about the traffic for ten minutes.

a chance to vent spleen

The radio show gave listeners a chance to vent spleen.

Synonyms and how they differ

rant

Rant is more informal and often suggests speaking loudly and at length; vent spleen is more formal and can include writing.

complain

Complain is neutral and simply states a problem; vent spleen adds a strong sense of releasing anger.

Word family

vent verb

to release strong feelings, often by expressing them

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “vent spleen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words