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definitions

rancor

[rang-ker]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rancor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

bitter, rankling resentment or ill will; hatred; malice.

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RELATED WORDS

harshness, grudge, antagonism, acrimony, hostility, malice, resentment, enmity, venom, animus, animosity, hatred, mordacity, vengefulness, umbrage, pique, dudgeon, hate, spite, malevolence
Also especially British, ran·cour.

Origin of rancor

1175–1225; Middle English rancour < Middle French < Late Latin rancōr- (stem of rancor) rancidity, equivalent to Latin ranc(ēre) (see rancid) + -ōr- -or1
Related formsran·cored; especially British, ran·coured, adjectiveun·ran·cored, adjective

Synonyms for rancor

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rancor ON THESAURUS.COM
bitterness, spite, venom, animosity. See malevolence.

Antonyms for rancor

benevolence.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for rancor

Contemporary Examples of rancor

Historical Examples of rancor

  • It is not the sermon I mind, but all the dislike and jealousy and rancor it will cause.

    My New Curate

    P.A. Sheehan

  • But the mere name of Constance had acted as a spur to her rancor.

    Marjorie Dean

    Pauline Lester

  • It dulled the edge of rancor brutally, as a rock dulls a razor.

  • There was no rancor or bitterness in the expression of these men.

  • Let us be friends as we once were, and have no more of this rancor.

    Roundabout Papers

    William Makepeace Thackeray

Word Origin and History for rancor
n.

c.1200, from Old French rancor "bitterness, resentment; grief, affliction," from Late Latin rancorem (nominative rancor) "rancidness, a stinking smell" (Palladius); "grudge, bitterness" (Hieronymus and in Late Latin), from Latin rancere "to stink" (see rancid).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper