Word of the Day:

December 9, 2021

rankle

verb RANK-ul

What it Means

Rankle means "to cause anger, irritation, or bitterness."

// Rae Ann's snooty attitude and rude behavior rankled the host, but he smiled to hide his irritation.

Rankle in Context

"Just one caveat: big swaths of this book are fiction, which may rankle readers who are eager to sink their teeth into a good nonfiction book." — Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, 24 Sept. 2021

More example sentences

Did You Know?

When rankle was first used in English, it meant "to fester," and that meaning is related to French words referring to a sore and tracing to Latin dracunculus. The Latin is from draco, the word for a serpent and the source of English's dragon. The transition from serpents to sores is apparently from people associating the appearance of certain ulcers or tumors to small serpents.

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a verb meaning "to make angry": n _ _ t _ e.

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